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27M    SEE 


TO  THE  POLES 


GIFT  OF 


To 

My  Boys 

and  the  millions  of  other 
YOUNG  PEOPLE 

who  are  standing  on  the  threshold 

of  America's  Golden  Age— every  horizon 

aflame  with  promise,  and  the  accumulated 

glow  of  centuries  to  come,  illuminating 

the  pathway  that  leads  to  the  land 

of  the 

MORNING, 
this  volume  is  affectionately  inscribed. 

Allen  Kendrick  Wright. 


. 


.  t  •    » 


To  the  Poles  by  Airship 


OR 


AROUND  THE  WORLD  ENDWAYS 


By 


Allen  Kendrick  Wright 


SECOND  EDITION 


1910; 

I 

Baumgardt  Publishing  CoV 

Los  Ange'es,  Cal,      • 


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COPYRIGHT 

1910 
BY  A.  K.  WRIGHT 


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273586 


"We  are  living,  we  are  dwelling 
In  a  grand  and  wondrous  time, 

In  an  age  on  ages  telling — 
To   be  living   is   sublime!" 

— Coxe. 


For  I  dipt  into  the  future,  far  as  human  eye  could  see 

Saw  the  vision  of  the  world,  and  all  the  wonder  that 
would  be. 

Saw    the    heavens    filled    with    commerce,    argosies    of 
magic    sails, 

Pilots   of   the   purple   twilight,     dropping     down     with 
costly   bales. 

— Tennyson. 


Cloud-continents    swing    at    anchor, 
Where   backward   curves   the   sky; 

Headlights  gleam  as  flashing  comets, 
From    airships    sailing    by. 

—Wright. 


Preface 


This  book  stands  without  a  rival.  Occu- 
pies a  field  absolutely  new.  Offers  to  the 
reader  three  things  which  every  manly 
man  and  every  womanly  woman  has  longed 
for,  does  now  long  for,  will  hereafter  long 
for. 

First — A  trip  around  the  world  endways, 
for  which  fortunes  have  been  pledged  and 
scores  of  human  lives  sacrificed. 

Second — A  voyage  thru  the  air,  over 
lands  unexplored — seas  unknown. 

Third — Chemicals  from  the  laboratories 
of  nature  for  the  solution  of  the  mightiest 
problems  that  have  challenged  human 
attention  in  all  ages,  together  with  the 
material  for  the  most  wonderful  pictures 
ever  gazed  upon  by  human  eyes. 

The  gates  of  America's  golden  age  are 
ajar;  let  us  enter. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


Introduction 


Three  unmeasurable  advantages  neces- 
sarily attach  themselves  to  this  voyage: 

First — Our  magnificent  speed — 325  miles 
per  hour — brot  scenes  and  incidents  of  the 
voyage  so  close  together  that  they  appear 
on  the  canvas  of  memory  as  a  flash-light 
of  the  world  by  instantaneous  method. 

Second — We  were  able  to  study  by  con- 
trast the  difference  and  influence  that  cli- 
matic conditions  make  upon  plant  and 
animal  life,  as  well  as  zone  influence  upon 
civilization,  and  indeed  upon  the  race  of 
mankind. 

Third — Traveling  above  the  earth  with 
adjustable-telescopic-lens-windows,wesaw, 
not  simply  a  ribband  or  strand  of  land- 
scape immediately  adjoining  our  pathway, 
but  practically  a  continent  of  width,  with 
mountains,  plains  and  waterways  in  sub- 
lime and  entrancing  panorama. 

With  these  advantages  clearly  in  mind, 
let  the  reader  enter  the  last  chamber  of 
Discovery  in  the  physical  temple  of  planet 
Earth. 


Table  of  Contents 

Sailing  on  Together — Poem. 

PART  I. 

First  Day — New  Orleans  to  North  Pole. 
Second  Day — North  Pole  to  Jerusalem. 
Third  Day — Jerusalem  to  Pretoria. 
Fourth  Day — Pretoria  to  South  Pole. 
Fifth  Day — South  Pole  to  Buenos  Ayres. 
Sixth  Day — Buenos  Ayres  to  New  Orleans. 

PART  II. 

Afterglow. 

a — Voice  of  the  Sphinx, 
b — Armageddon. 
c — Progress. 
d — Fruits  of  Peace. 

e — Conservation  of  Natural  Resources, 
f  —The  Afterglow— Poem. 

PART  III. 

Twentieth  Century  Poems. 

The  Desert  110 

A  Desert  Rain 112 

The  Old  Prospector 113 

How  the  Almighty  Paints 115 

Mother's  Room  116 

I  Know  Not 117 

Longing  for  You 118 

The  Children's  Burden 119 

Do  It  Now 121 

A  Woman's  Heart 122 

Love 's  Wireless 122 

Spring  Fever   123 

My  Wish  for  Thee 124 

Our  Boys  125 

Where  Dwellest  Thou? 126 

The  Homeward  Trail.  128 


SAILING  ON  TOGETHER. 

If  I  have  you  and  you  have  me, 

Why  should  we  be  caring, 
We  will  sail  life's  summer  sea, 

Joy  and  sorrow  sharing; 
Bravely  meet  the  swelling  tide, 

What  e'er  the  wind  or  weather, 
Swiftly  outward  safe  we  ride, 

Sailing  on  together. 

A  sapphire  vault  the  sky  above, 

Cloudlets  floating  o'er  us; 
Softly  sings  the  bird  of  love, 

We  will  join  the  chorus; 
Raise  your  voice  so  sweet  my  dear, 

'Twill  help  a  friend  or  brother, 
Doing  good  we've  naught  to  fear, 

Sailing  on  together. 

Emerald  seas  on  every  side, 

Too  deep  for  mortal  sounding, 
We  are  floating  on  a  tide, 

With  life  and  love  abounding ; 
When  our  sailing  here  is  done, 

All  past  earth's  wind  and  weather, 
We  shall  surely  still  be  one, 

Sailing  on  together. 

Till  we  reach  that  mystic  clime, 

Life's  secrets  all  revealing, 
And  catch  the  glory  of  the  chime, 

Love's  golden  bells  are  pealing; 
Or  what  to  me  is  more  sublime, 

(I  often  think  I'd  rather) 
Come  back  to  earth  a  second  time, 

And  sail  again  together. 


To  the  Poles  by  Airship 

Parti 

FIRST  DAY. 

New  Orleans  to  North  Pole. 

The  tidal  wave  that  fell  upon  Galveston 
like  a  destroying  angel  and  swept  our 
whole  southern  coast  with  a  hurricane  of 
disaster  and  death,  had  spent  its  force, 
but  the  ground  swell  still  lingered  in  the 
Mississippi  valley  and  caused  the  great 
lakes  to  tremble  in  their  mighty  basins. 

The  morning  of  September  10th,  1900, 
broke  over  the  crescent  city  wondrously 
clear,  unnaturally  calm.  To  the  south  and 
west  low-lying  clouds  skirted  the  horizon, 
as  if  nature  had  spread  a  funeral  pall  over 
the  scenes  of  her  desolation,  but  above  and 
northward  the  sapphire  vault  was  as  clear 
as  a  Herschel  lens. 

Our  entire  party  had  remained  in  their 
state-rooms  during  the  night,  and  were 
ready  for  the  lifting  of  anchors  at  six 
o'clock,  A.  M.  Slowly,  steadily,  as  a  crea- 


14        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

ture  endowed  with  life,  and  conscious  of 
power,  the  stately  ship  rose  for  TWO 
THOUSAND  FATHOMS  moving  neither 
forward  nor  backward,  swerving  not  to 
right  or  left.  Full  five  minutes  we  remain- 
ed motionless,  drinking  the  glory  of  the 
scene,  while  limitations  melted  away  before 
the  growing  sense  of  possibility. 

With  face  lighted  with  joy  and  gladness, 
as  of  one  about  to  consummate  a  long- 
cherished  hope,  Lieutenant  Peary,  the  in- 
trepid explorer  of  northern  climes,  stood 
with  his  right  hand  upon  the  helm,  while 
his  left  pressed  the  button  that  turned  the 
liquid-air  into  VACUUM-ALUMINUM- 
Corliss  engines. 

Throbbing  with  power  the  '  'NEW  ERA" 
tossed  her  beamed  frontlet  upward  for  an 
instance,  balanced  and  shot  forward  like  a 
thunderbolt,  and  the  first  voyage  around 
the  earth  endways  was  begun;  the  voyage 
that  should  disclose  the  great  secrets  of 
the  UNKNOWN  under  the  frozen  constel- 
lations of  the  north  and  reveal  the  won- 
drous mysteries  that  lay  beyond  the  hori- 
zon of  discovery  under  the  fiery  serpents 
of  the  south, — the  voyage  that  should  be 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        15 

to  the  world  of  science  and  progressive 
thot,  what  the  voyage  of  COLUMBUS 
was  to  the  geographic  and  commercial 
world;  the  voyage,  that  on  one  hand  should 
reveal  more  wonders  than  ALADDIN'S 
LAMP  professed  to  do,  and  on  the  other 
put  an  end  to  the  loss  of  life  and  property 
in  vain  attempts  to  reach  the  poles  by 
waterways. 

It  was  a  sublime  and  tremendous 
moment.  Unconquerable  mind  was  about 
to  begin  her  reign  over  material  forces,  as 
contemplated  by  JEHOVAH  when  He 
created  Man  and  gave  him  dominion  over 
terrestrial  things. 

White  as  the  sheen  of  a  falcon's  wing 
lay  league  after  league  of  the  cotton  belt, 
set  in  frames  of  stream  and  forest  that 
shaded  into  orchard,  meadow  or  wheat- 
field  of  the  farther  north,  which  in  turn 
gave  way  to  the  wooded  hills,  mountains 
and  lakes  of  the  mighty  SASKATCHE- 
WAN of  British  Columbia  and  later  on 
the  unexplored  empires  of  the  Yukon  and 
McKenzie  that  also  yielded  to  an  unbroken 
sea  of  snow-scrolls,  frost-crystals  and  ice 
fields  that  stretched  away  to  the  north- 


16       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

ward  beyond  the  horizon  of  mortal  knowl- 
edge. 

All  were  comfortably  settled  in  the 
observation  section,  which  for  several  rea- 
sons had  been  located  in  the  center  of  the 
vessel,  and  enjoying  beyond  measure  the 
play  of  light  and  shadow  upon  the  broad 
bottoms,  rugged  slopes,  winding  valleys 
and  purple  hills  that  terraced  to  the  trans- 
continental divide  on  the  west,  or  the  great 
forests  and  quiet  valleys  of  the  Cumber- 
land and  Blue  Ridge,  when  a  thunderous 
blast  from  the  fog-horn  followed  by  intense 
darkness  and  a  trembling  motion  of  the 
great  ship  brot  panic  to  every  heart.  For 
the  fraction  of  a  minute  only  did  the  dark- 
ness last  and  then  an  unnatural  light  of 
dazzling  brilliancy  enveloped  us.  Fearful 
lest  some  atmospheric  maelstrom  or  elec- 
trical cataclysm  threatened  destruction, 
our  pilot  threw  out  the  fin-like  anchors, 
reversed  the  propellers  and  brot  the  vessel 
to  a  balance.  As  soon  as  the  eyes  could 
adjust  themselves  to  the  intense  light,  we 
discovered  the  city  of  Memphis  directly 
below  us  and  also  discovered  the  cause  of 
the  marvelous  phenomena  about  us. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        17 

Earthward  and  apparently  close  to  the 
ground  lay  a  dark  circle  possibly  two  hun- 
dred miles  in  diameter,  with  intense  black 
spots  at  a  number  of  points.  The  whole 
thing  had  the  appearance  of  an  enormous 
bicycle  tire  which  suddenly  inflated  had 
punctured  here  and  there,  throwing  out 
ink-black  jets  of  smoke  blown  into  circles 
and  rings  as  often  seen  blown  from  loco- 
motives. Viewed  from  above,  these  energy 
centers  seemed  sometimes  circular,  some- 
times elliptical  in  form,  the  outer  walls 
ever  dark,  the  inside  changing,  sometimes 
black,  sometimes  blazing  like  fire,  some- 
times like  molten  sulphur.  Whatever  color 
assumed,  their  motion  was  constant  and 
of  frightful  velocity.  Without  question 
these  were  cyclones  and  but  parts  of  a  tre- 
mendous whole,  and  as  far  as  we  could 
discover  the  entire  area  of  the  circle  was 
being  swept  with  electrical  energy  whose 
source  and  origin  was  then  unknown  but 
destined  to  be  revealed  before  our  journey 
ended. 

One  fact  which  was  clearly  established 
later  on  may  as  well  be  set  down  here; 
namely,  that  heat  and  cold  in  their  rela- 


18       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

tion  to  the  earth  are  controlled  by  the 
atmosphere  whose  grain  or  fibre  is  vertical, 

and  for  this   reason  causes  the  heat  and 

i 

cold  to  develop  chutes  or  chimneys, 
sometimes  small,  at  other  times  covering 
vast  areas,  but  whether  large  or  small, 
dropping  in  spots,  so  to  speak,  Thus  it 
will  be  seen  that  certain  localities  may 
develop  extreme  temperature  in  either  di- 
rection, while  only  a  few  miles  away  there 
may  not  be  any  marked  change.  With 
these  facts  before  us  we  can  understand 
why  zero  weather  may  obtain  as  far  south 
as  Texas,  while  on  the  great  lakes  or  even 
Hudson  Bay  country  almost  autumn 
weather  reigns.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these 
hitherto  supposedly  abnormal  conditions 
have  been  frequently  noted  but  could  not 
be  satisfactorily  accounted  for  on  the  old 
theory  that  temperatures  were  affected 
only  by  "  Humidity,  Altitude  and  Lati- 
tude. ' ' 

Having  made  sure  that  we  were  in  the 
roof  regions  of  an  enormous  cyclone  dis- 
trict two  hundred  miles  or  more  in  diam- 
eter with  here  and  there  danger  centers 
capable  of  swift  destruction,  our  pilot 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        19 

weighed  anchor,  allowed  the  vessel  to  rise 
two  hundred  fathoms  and  proceeded  on 
our  way. 

As  the  "NEW  ERA"  swept  on  and  out 
of  the  storm  zone  and  descended  to  our 
former  level  we  were  all  conscious  of  a 
wonderful  relief.  From  a  sense  of  intense 
nerve  tension  that  caused  our  fingers  to 
tingle  and  our  cheeks  to  burn  with  hot 
rushes  of  blood,  we  suddenly  became  nor- 
mal and  serenely  comfortable;  but  the  won- 
derful exhilaration  of  physical  life  together 
with  the  quickening  of  mental  faculties 
was  remarked  by  all,  and  the  infinite  sense 
of  healing  and  strength  resulting  from  the 
electrical  bath  we  had  just  passed  thru  will 
always  remain  one  of  our  most  pleasant 
memories. 

The  everyday  affairs  of  life  are  the  most 
interesting  transactions,  and  when  fully 
understood  often  the  most  wonderful.  We 
scarcely  realize  how  much  of  variety  and 
beauty  of  the  physical  world  about  us 
depends  upon  the  changes  produced  by  the 
storms  and  clouds.  During  the  first  hours 
of  our  voyage  we  were  considerably  puz- 
zled over  certain  brilliant  areas  which 


20       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

appeared  suddenly  and  as  suddenly  dis- 
appeared in  various  sections  of  our  land- 
scape. Acres  of  flame  gave  way  to  the 
limit  of  blackness  thru  which  ever  and 
anon  swept  rivers  of  fire  mingled  with 
blood,  Great  electric  storms  they  were 
pouring  rain  in  torrents  upon  the  earth 
from  the  lower  side,  but  bathed  in  un- 
broken sunshine  on  the  roofs,  with  waves 
of  electricized-ether  (commonly  called 
sheet  lightning)  playing  wild  games  over 
the  roof  ridges,  racing  down  gutters  and 
dripping  from  the  eaves  of  these  marvel- 
ous cloud  structures. 

Deep-toned,  the  voice  of  thunder  was 
not  wanting,  but  passing  upward  thru  the 
atmospheric  fibre  like  the  pipes  of  some 
vast  organ,  all  sounds  were  softened  and 
harmonized  into  richest  music.  This  ORA- 
TORIO of  the  planet  earth  was  the  gather- 
ing up  and  blending  into  one  sublime 
harmony  of  all  terrestrial  sounds.  The 
thunder's  voice,  the  roar  of  onrushing 
trains,  the  tenor  of  whirring  trolleys,  the 
song  of  birds  and  murmuring  of  waters, 
the  swish  of  electric  currents  thru  watery 
vapors,  the  sudden  rending  of  cloud  fibres, 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP       21 

the  steady  thrum  of  the  cities  strong  cry- 
ing and  laughter,  and  the  fusing  of  noxious 
gases,  all  caught  up  to  these  roof  regions 
and  swept  back  and  forth  by  the  tides  of 
this  aerial  ocean  was  music  indeed  that 
enraptured  and  soothed  while  it  fed  and 
satisfied  every  attribute  of  body,  mind  and 
spirit. 

That  all  sounds,  especially  the  human 
voice,  travel  upward  better  than  down- 
ward has  long  been  recognized,  but  that 
all  earthly  sounds  should  be  thus  blended 
and  translated  thru,  not  six,  but  scores  of 
octaves  by  electric-ether  fingers  on  God's 
aeolian  harp,  was  never  dreamed  by  our 
wildest  imaginations  till  now  it  was  demon- 
strated by  this  voyage  thru  the  hitherto 
supposed  voiceless  realms  of  atmospheric 
solitude.  However,  some  intimations  of 
this  marvelous  process  have  long  pre- 
sented themselves  to  mortal  intuitions  and 
poets  have  dreamed  and  orators  have  sung 
in  all  ages  of  "THE  MUSIC  OF  THE 
SPHERES";  but  these  phantom  outlines 
upon  the  canvas  of  mortality's  latent  senses 
now  but  occasionally  made  visible  by  the 
flash-light  of  genius,  will  some  time  be 


22        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

realized  for  the  world's  entertainment  and 
profit;  and  some  as  yet  unborn  EDISON 
will  probably  in  the  near  future  not  only 
record  the  voice  of  the  earth  as  it  sweeps 
along  the  star-decked  plains  of  its  orbit, 
but  also  the  very  movements  of  the  stellar 
constellations  as  they  swing  grandly  on 
along  their  shining  pathways  around  the 
cloud  continents  and  thru  and  across  the 
vaporous  oceans  of  limitless  space;  and 
thus  for  man  thru  the  economy  of  GOD 
shall  be  conserved  the  broken  fragments 
of  universal  sound  in  the  voiceless  music 
of  the  stars. 

The  minimizing  effect  of  vertical  views 
is  plainly  discernible  from  high  buildings, 
monuments  or  ferris  wheels,  but  imagine 
if  you  can  the  degrees  of  this  influence  thru 
two  thousand  fathoms  of  space,  Except 
for  our  telescopic-lens-glass-bottomed  boat 
(even  as  visitors  to  Avalon,  Catalina 
island,  view  the  submarine  gardens)  we 
could  not  have  distinguished  any  earthly 
objects,  but  thanks  to  the  wisdom  of  our 
ship  builder  everything  on  earth  was 
clearly  seen,  the  only  change  being  that 
all  color  values  were  absolute  (no  shades) 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        23 

and  only  the  seven  primary  colors  ever 
appeared.  Human  faces  upturned  were 
absolutely  white,  their  clothes  if  dark  abso- 
lutely black.  Trees  and  meadow  lands  as 
well  as  all  artificial  objects  painted  green, 
appeared  rainbow  green;  blue  tinted  struc- 
tures, flowers,  lakes  and  rivers  appeared 
indigo  blue,  while  stubble  lands  and  fal- 
low fields  were  saffron,  and  mahogany  and 
carmine  railroad  trains  raced  as  streams 
of  blood  over  the  ground — great  arteries 
running  in  every  direction,  but  here  and 
there  gathered  into  ganglion  nerve-centers 
— the  cities. 

Among  the  multitude  of  extraordinary 
things  upon  which  we  gazed  perhaps  none 
were  more  wonderful  and  awe-inspiring 
than  the  sunshine  effects  along  the  slopes 
of  the  rocky  mountains  late  in  the  after- 
noon. Whether  caused  by  the  obtuse  angle 
of  reflection  or  by  some  to  us  unknown 
and  peculiar  condition  of  the  atmosphere, 
I  know  not,  but  the  sun's  rays  seemed 
broken  up  and  blended  into  an  ocean  of 
flame  that  rolled  and  swelled  in  mighty 
surges  of  color  from  the  Yukon  to  the  Rio 
Grande  and  involuntarily  the  possibility  of 


24       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

the  conflagration  of  a  continent  was  borne 
upon  the  senses  and  the  wreck  of  matter 
and  crush  of  worlds  seemed  imminent. 

As  we  gazed  entranced  but  awe-stricken 
upon  this  new  creation,  an  exclamation 
from  one  of  the  ladies  caused  us  to  turn 
our  eyes  eastward  where  a  scene  broke 
upon  our  vision  that  appalled  every  heart 
and  blanched  all  faces — a  scene  that  brot 
consternation  to  all  faculties  and  threat- 
ened reason  itself. 

From  Hudson  Bay  to  the  Aztec  sea  the 
earth  seemed  to  have  dropped  away  and  a 
mighty  void  where  power  creative  never 
yet  had  energized  and  existence  still  slept 
in  the  wide  abyss  of  possibility  had  taken 
its  place — a  void  as  unfathomable  as  space 
and  black  as  a  gulf  of  despair  —  and  we 
seemed  on  the  verge  of  universal  chaos. 
So  vast  and  unmeasurable  seemed  this 
utter  blackness,  so  awful  our  possibility  of 
drifting  into  it,  that  only  the  sun  in  his 
course  and  the  great  forests  below  us  were 
able  to  recall  us  to  assurance  and  a  sense 
of  safety. 

This  weird  and  supernatural  phenome- 
non lasted  only  a  few  minutes,  but  long 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP       25 

enough  to  leave  an  impression  that  still 
causes  the  soul  to  quail  when  flashed  across 
the  canvas  of  memory.  Each  one  felt  that 
to  us  had  been  given  to  approach  the  un- 
known and  unknowable — to  stand  for  a 
moment  on  the  borderland  of  temporal  and 
eternal  realities  and  see  the  veil  that  sep- 
arates between  the  finite  and  the  infinite 
blown  aside  by  the  breath  of  the  eternal 
and  omnipotent  God. 

From  the  snow-crowned  peaks  of  Alberta 
and  the  frost-white  sentinels  of  Alaska 
to  the  Laurentian  Hills  and  Hudson  Bay, 
a  splendid  forest  weeps  and  waves  in 
primeval  grandeur.  With  here  and  there 
magnificent  parks  of  meadow  land  where 
feed  the  caribou  by  thousands,  and  great 
lakes  upon  whose  broad  bosoms  or  reedy 
borders  waterfowl  by  millions  take  their 
summer  outings  and  rear  their  young  in 
safety,  while  winding  thru  all  like  silver 
ribbands  thru  fabrics  of  gauze  are  laugh- 
ing brooks  and  mighty  rivers  alive  with 
fish  of  many  kinds. 

Behold  the  sportsman's  paradise!  The 
wheat-fields  of  generations  yet  unborn  and 
lumber  camps,  once  they  are  opened,  that 


26        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

shall  build  the  cities  of  a  world,  and  then 
let  us  blush  at  thought  of  our  hue  and' 
cry  about  the  exhaustion  of  the  world's 
natural  resources. 

0,  we  of  little  faith!  The  same  hand 
that  built  the  world  and  laid  the  corner- 
stones of  a  universe  still  controls  the  sea- 
sons and  flings  far  and  wide  all  round  the 
world  the  conditions  for  a  million  harvests. 
Our  HOME  shall  not  be  made  desolate  if 
we  but  do  our  part. 

Hearts  thrilled — hopes  beat  high — antic- 
ipation was  pregnant  with  mightiest  ex- 
pectation and  all  involved  in  a  mysterious 
sense  of  the  untried,  when  at  time  of  set- 
ting sun  we  sailed  into  the  arctic  circle, 
passed  from  sight  of  land  and  began  our 
flight  over  watery  wastes  and  hundreds  of 
leagues  of  snow  and  ice. 

But  the  sun  did  not  set.  Into  the  land 
of  deathless  day  we  entered;  thru  misty 
moonlight,  o'er  arctic  seas,  into  the 
AURORA  BOREALIS  the  "NEW  ERA" 
plunged.  Electric  waves  flashed  from  her 
brazen  prow — hung  in  splendid  halos 
around  her  mighty  hull  and  streamed  far 
out  behind  in  flaming  grandeur  like  the 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        27 

luminous  pathway  of  a  comet's  train.  On, 
still  on,  till  the  soul  is  lost  in  wonder  amid 
these  scenes  of  phantom  splendor  that 
threaten  to  overtax  sight  and  sense  amid 
our  new  surroundings. 

From  henceforth  be  it  known  to  you,  0 
children  of  Time,  that  amid  these  vast  soli- 
tudes God's  hand  hath  set  the  batteries  of 
snow  and  ice  charged  with  electricity, 
ether  and  oxygen  that  generates  the  ozone 
for  a  world's  life,  the  motive  power  for  a 
solar  system — and  the  air  that  angels 
breathe. 

The  rush  and  roar  of  these  elemental 
forces — the  grind  and  crash  of  ice  fields 
broken  up,  the  launching  of  bergs  and  the 
boom  and  thunder  of  contending  tides 
thrown  up  in  crystal  spray  and  sparkling 
scrolls  conspired  to  present  a  scene  like 
unto  Creations'  Morn  when  the  stars  sang 
and  the  Sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy. 

On,  still  on,  we  sped  thru  this  carnival 
of  carnelian  splendors  till  we  shot  out  over 
an  open  sea  that  sparkled  and  dimpled  in 
rainbow  green  beneath  the  beams  of  the 
midnight  sun  when,  lo !  an  island  not  many 
leagues  in  extent,  but  clothed  in  matchless 


28       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

verdure,  loomed  across  our  pathway  and 
the  Log-Book  told  us  the  goal  was  won. 

In  a  small  but  beautiful  natural  park, 
traversed  by  a  tiny  brook  and  surrounded 
by  noble  trees  whose  wondrous  bloom  and 
odor  ravished  our  souls  with  their  fra- 
grance, the  "NEW  ERA"  came  to  anchor. 

All  passengers  immediately  sought  their 
state-rooms,  but  so  balmy  was  the  air,  so 
exhilarating  and  full  of  life-giving  power 
and  tissue-building  properties  —  that  two 
hours  of  rest  and  slumber  was  all  that  any 
of  us  required,  and  by  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  entire  party  were  walking 
about  the  island. 

No  words  can  describe  nor  pen  convey 
the  buoyancy  and  elasticity  of  body  and 
mind — the  ineffable  sense  of  strength  and 
youthful  super-abundance  of  health  and 
vitality  that  came  from  the  oxygenated- 
electricized-salined  atmosphere  of  this 
aboriginal  clime.  Not  alone  thru  the  lungs 
were  we  conscious  of  this  marvelous  influ- 
ence, but  every  organ  of  the  body,  the 
very  flesh  and  bones,  seemed  renovated, 
strengthened,  and  functional  power  quick- 
ened; the  brain  and  spirit  revelled  in  crea- 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        29 

tive  power.  Great  problems  heretofore 
shrouded  with  mystery  suddenly  became 
luminous.  Doubts  and  questions  gave  way 
to  full  assurance  of  knowledge,  and  the 
spell  of  intuition  became  dominant  in 
human  affairs.  We  seemed  to  have  in- 
stantly passed  from  all  restraint  and  sense 
of  limitations  into  an  absolute  freedom 
generous  as  the  sunshine,  boundless  as 
space,  where  the  mind  and  heart  did  not 
need  longer  to  struggle  and  labor  for 
attainment,  but  immediately  possessed 
accurate  information  on  any  proposition 
as  if  by  right  of  inheritance. 

Strange,  mysterious,  blessed  land!  Land 
of  cloudless  skies  and  deathless  days;  land 
of  solitude  where  no  voice  was  ever  heard 
since  God  spoke  worlds  into  being  and  gar- 
mented thy  bosom  with  fragrant  flowers 
and  velvet  greens.  No  breath  of  unclean- 
ness  was  ever  wafted  across  thy  pearly 
strand,  nor  noxious  weed  or  bristling  thorn 
did  ever  find  root  in  thy  soil.  No  pestilen- 
tial vapors  ever  rise  from  thy  mossy  brakes 
and  tranquil  pools.  Death  thou  hast  not 
known,  for  crushed  and  broken  hearts  have 
never  wended  their  way  in  funeral  proces- 


30       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

sion  along  the  banks  of  thy  crystal  streams 
nor  digged  lonely  graves  in  thy  fertile  soil 
wherein  to  bury  forms  of  love.  No  requiem 
nor  funeral  dirge  has  ever  sounded  across 
thy  dewy  lawns;  and  of  saddening  mem- 
ories thou  hast  none.  Peaceful,  glorious 
land!  War  and  bloodshed  have  never  fal- 
len upon  thee,  nor  strife  or  tumult  entered 
thy  gardens  of  delight.  Waters  from  thy 
fountains  are  pure  as  nectarous  sweets; 
flowers  and  fruits  thine  orchards  bear,  such 
as  to  mortal  sense  were  ne'er  before  re- 
vealed. No  wreck  lies  beneath  the  quiet 
waves  of  that  stormless  sea,  whose  tranquil 
tides  wash  thy  vine-clad  shores,  for  a  sail 
has  never  whitened  upon  its  emerald 
bosom.  How  low  thy  skies  of  azure  bend 
as  if  to  bring  nature's  warmest,  kindliest 
greeting  to  her  ardently  worshipping  chil- 
dren permitted  to  rest  for  a  few  hours  in 
this  summerland  of  the  soul. 

The  reader  is  asked  to  accept  the  fore- 
going statements  not  as  vagaries  of  the 
imagination,  but  as  sober  sense  based  on 
at  least  three  well-known  facts,  namely: 

First — That  on  desert  lands  in  Nevada 
and  Arizona,  fruits,  vegetables  and  meats, 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        31 

in  many  instances,  do  not  putrefy,  but  are 
dried  and  preserved  by  nature's  processes 
accredited  to  pure  air  and  sunshine  unpol- 
luted by  the  conditions  of  civilization. 

Second — That  the  atmosphere  of  moun- 
tain solitudes,  especially  in  the  regions  of 
perpetual  snow,  is  pure  with  an  exhilarat- 
ing effect  that  is  often  almost  intoxicating 
in  tonic  power. 

Third — That  the  inhabitants  of  certain 
islands  of  the  Orkney  or  Orcades  group 
have  not  been  subject  to  colds  for  two  hun- 
dred years,  except  when  visited  by  the 
crews  of  trading  vessels.  Moreover,  all 
arctic  explorers  freely  testify  that  colds 
and  influenza  cease  among  their  men  in 
the  intense  cold  of  the  far  north  and  only 
return  with  the  return  to  civilization. 

The  open  polar  sea  has  been  talked  of 
and  believed  in  by  all  arctic  explorers,  but 
it  remained  for  the  voyagers  in  the  "NEW 
ERA"  to  establish  the  fact  and  account 
for  it  on  the  scientific  basis  of  extraordi- 
nary electrical  and  atmospheric  conditions 
which  undoubtedly  obtained  in  the  earlier 
ages  of  the  world's  life,  when  men  lived 
to  be  hundreds  of  years  young,  and  has 


32        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

thru  the  inscrutable  wisdom  of  God  been 
preserved  in  this  polar  region  safe  from 
the  degenerating  influences  of  mankind, 
tho  destroyed  in  every  other  portion  of  the 
globe  by  the  re-adjustment  that  followed 
the  Noachain  Deluge.  And  this  splendid 
remnant  of  the  glorious  possessions  once 
allotted  to  man  not  only  serves  as  a  re- 
minder of  what  was  lost  thru  the  trans- 
gression of  beneficent  laws  and  the  rejec- 
tion of  God's  leadership,  but  a  token  as 
well  of  the  transcendent  glories  which 
await  the  race  at  the  "  TIMES  of  the  resti- 
tution of  all  things"  and  the  dawn  of  that 
glorious  era  when  broken,  thwarted  lives 
shall  be  made  perfect  and  that  which  was 
missed  and  lost  shall  be  regained. 

'Twas  hard  to  break  away  from  this 
enchanted  land,  and  the  ship's  chronom- 
eter indicated  full  thirty  minutes  past 
six  o'clock  the  following  morning  when 
we  finally  weighed  anchor  and  bade  regret- 
ful farewell  to  this  matchless  gem  of  the 
ocean. 


SECOND  DAY. 

North  Pole  to  Jerusalem,  Syria. 

For  a  thousand  fathoms  the  majestic 
ship  cleft  the  air  in  vertical  lines  and  still 
the  little  island  could  be  seen,  a  tiny  spot 
of  living  green  in  the  ocean's  shoreless 
blue.  Smaller,  and  fainter  outlined,  at  last 
it  seemed  to  dissolve  in  mists  as  the  '  'NEW 
ERA"  was,  like  a  flashing  meteor,  hurled 
acros  the  aerial  ocean  that  rolled  and 
swelled  its  sublime  declaration  of  independ- 
ence across  the  vast  unknown  between  us 
and  Siberia's  ice-bound  desert-prisons. 

How  long!  Oh,  how  long  shall  it  be, 
0  SPIRIT  of  JUSTICE,  ere  the  hand  of 
oppression  shall  be  lifted  from  this  land 
of  mighty  possibilities  and  a  people  long 
made  to  serve  with  rigor  may  lift  their 
faces  toward  the  light  which  glows  above 
the  hills  and  illumines  the  pathway  that 
leads  to  the  lands  of  MORNING? 

Secure  in  the  knowledge  that  two  or 
three  hundred  leagues  of  water  lay  between 
us  and  any  known  land,  and  presuming  on 


34       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

a  repetition  of  the  conditions  of  yesterday, 
our  pilot  pulled  the  throttle  wide  open  and 
the  "NEW  ERA"  responded  with  a  burst 
of  terrific  speed  that  came  near  to  being 
our  undoing.  A  thousand  fathoms  below 
the  plane  of  our  former  sailing,  we  were 
virtually  plowing  thru  rather  than  skim- 
ming the  waves  of  the  atmospheric  ocean, 
and  at  an  altitude  where  the  air  was  com- 
paratively dense. 

Like  a  giant  RORQUAL,  the  noble  ves- 
sel plunged  on  and  into  the  Aurora  zone, 
leaving  behind,  not  a  pathway  of  foam, 
but  tongues  of  fire  and  scrolls  of  flames 
when  a  roar  and  thunder  of  mighty  volume 
and  paralyzing  power  broke  about  us. 
We  were  in  the  midst  of  an  arctic  hail-1 
storm.  The  air  was  full  of  great  blocks 
of  ice  and  masses  of  snow  flung  upward 
in  wild  and  awful  fury  from  the  ice-crusts 
below  pierced  by  electric  currents  of  irre- 
sistible voltage,  Quickly  elevating  the 
prow  and  dropping  the  propeller  shaft,  we 
rose  a  thousand  fathoms,  and  above  the 
ice  and  snow  belt  (tho  still  swept  by  winds 
of  frightful  velocity)  and  discovered  the 
genesis  of  an  arctic  blizzard.  For  scores 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        35 

of  leagues,  south,  east  and  west,  a  great 
storm- wave  swelled  its  magnificent  billows 
in  unconquered  and  unconquerable  might. 

Having  reduced  our  speed  to  a  couple  of 
degrees  per  hour,  we  studied  this  splendid 
mood  of  storm-king  amid  the  ice-palaces 
of  the  dazzling  north,  and  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  no  more  sublime  and  inspiring  scene 
was  ever  gazed  upon  by  human  eyes.  One 
moment  there  was  an  ocean  of  mountain 
peaks  as  if  congealed  in  the  act  of  up- 
heaval, then  quickly  subsiding,  vast  plains 
or  quiet  valleys  lay  spread  out  in  ravish- 
ing beauty,  but  soon  rent  by  fathomless 
chasms,  then  all  the  above  combined  in 
splendid  and  endless  variety  and  finally 
tossing  in  billows  covered  with  whitecaps 
as  the  ocean  whipped  by  fierce  winds. 

Swelling  in  tumultuous  splendor  this 
wide-flung  paralysis  of  the  northland  rolled 
on.  But  behold!  Its  face  has  changed 
expression.  Here  and  there  it  is  shot  thru 
with  glory.  Electric  waves  submerged  yet 
ever  stronger  growing  have  created  a  sea 
of  blood  that  soon  gives  way  to  crimson 
and  gold.  Stronger  and  stronger  flows 
the  electric  tide  until  the  submerged  cur- 


36       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

rents  break  above  the  surface,  first  in  jets 
of  fiery  drops,  then  tongues  of  flame  and 
finally  in  long,  fine-spun  fibrous-lightning 
like  millions  of  gleaming  lances  flinging 
out  over  a  universe  God's  wireless  mes- 
sages of  life  and  health,  calm  and  storm. 
A  signal  service  that  falling  now  on  mor- 
tals slow  of  heart  and  dull  of  comprehen- 
sion, awakens  only  idle  curiosity,  but  some- 
time rightly  interpreted,  will  warn  of 
earthquake  shock,  volcanic  upheaval,  cy- 
clones, monsoons  and  tidal  waves,  to  the 
end  that  famines  and  pestilences  be  for- 
ever expunged  from  the  catalog  of  human 
affairs  and  of  this  earth  it  may  be  said, 
as  before  sin  fell  upon  it,  "all  is  good  and 
very  good. ' ' 

Like  a  sea  of  sunshine  this  electric  flood 
swept  on  in  marvelous  transformation, 
lighting  up  league  on  league  of  this  bound- 
less ocean  of  spotless  white,  and  flashing 
upward,  illuminated  with  matchless  glow 
the  sapphire  vault  above  us. 

Instinctively  each  to  the  other  looked, 
knowing  by  sudden  consciousness  upon 
our  spirits  borne  that  we  were  in  the  midst 
of  the  Aurora  Borealis — that  grandest  of 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        37 

all   natural   phenomena — God's   illumina- 
tion of  a  hemisphere. 

How  mighty,  how  majestic,  and  how 
mysterious  are  nature's  works!  When  the 
air  is  calm,  where  sleep  the  stormy  winds? 
In  what  chambers  are  they  reposed — in 
what  dungeons  confined?  But  when  He 
who  holds  them  in  mighty  leash  is  pleased 
to  awaken  their  rage  and  throw  open  their 
prison  doors  they  rush  forth  with  irresis- 
tible might.  The  aerial  flood  pours  itself 
over  mountains,  seas  and  continents  till 
universal  equilibrium  of  material  forces  is 
established,  the  books  of  God's  natural 
laws  are  balanced  and  the  universe  rolls  on 
in  sublime  and  harmonious  peace. 

We  watch  the  clouds  as  they  grow  out 
of  everywhere  into  the  here,  and  call  them 
storm-centers — danger  spots  to  be  dreaded. 
Ah,  no!  They  are  God's  scavengers  of  the 
skies  gathering  up  the  waste  and  poisons 
of  the  planet  into  great  rubbish  heaps,  but 
gilded  by  His  hand  with  a  beauty  more 
glorious  than  the  incarnation  of  morning 
mists,  till  He  shall  see  fit  to  set  them  on 
fire  with  electric  currents  that  inspire  our 
admiration.  Washed,  purified,  vitalized, 


38       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

the  unbranded  air  returns  to  us  each  morn- 
ing bearing  the  freshness  and  balm  of  the 
wooded  mountains  —  the  sweetness  and 
fragrance  of  life  and  joy. 

Close  students  of  geography  have  been 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  in  the  western 
hemisphere  the  mountain  ranges  extend 
north  and  south,  while  in  the  eastern  hemi- 
sphere the  general  direction  is  east  and 
west.  This  striking  difference  was  most 
clearly  defined  from  our  pathway  among 
the  clouds,  also  the  barren  steeps  and  tree- 
less wastes  that  hold  back  growth  and 
progress  in  central  eastern  Europe  and 
western  Asia  were  clearly  outlined  as  we 
shot  out  of  the  gates  of  this  exposition  of 
arctic  wonders  and  were  thrilled  by  sight 
of  land,  forests  and  streams. 

Far  to  the  westward  the  domes  and 
spires  of  St.  Petersburg  gleamed  in  the 
rays  of  the  declining  sun,  while  lake  Baikal 
on  the  Siberian  steeps  already  grew  purple 
with  the  shades  of  approaching  night.  Far 
to  the  south  and  east  rose  the  Ghauts  and 
Himalayas,  while  the  Alps,  Pyrenees  and 
Mediterranean  were  dimly  outlined  south- 
west. Beneath  and  between  us  and  these 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        39 

lay  the  east  and  west  valleys  and  table- 
lands bathed  in  the  saffron  flood  of  the 
afterglow,  a  marvelous  picture  of  peace- 
ful beauty,  such  as  these  happy  valleys 
should  know  were  tyranny,  war  and  racial 
problems  forever  past. 

Glorious  as  the  vision  was,  it  soon  gave 
way  to  a  beauty  and  sublimity  hitherto 
undreamed  even  in  our  farthest-flung 
imaginations. 

Scarce  had  the  afterglow  faded  and 
darkness  settled  when  the  moon  at  its  full 
flung  its  soft  radiance  over  Asia  and 
Europe,  and  we  were  sailing  on  and  on  as 
thru  an  eternal  calm  of  illumined  clouds 
and  cloudless  azure  till  this  goddess  of 
the  Ancients  hanging  high  in  the  heavenly 
blue  proclaimed  the  midnight  hour  and  the 
"NEW  ERA"  anchored  in  the  vale  of 
Esdraelon  that  battle-field  of  the  nations 
(future  as  well  as  past)  and  the  ARMA- 
GEDDON* of  a  world  was  flamed  across 
the  horizon  of  our  dreams.  *Note  —  See 
Afterglow. 


THIRD  DAY. 

Jerusalem  to  Pretoria. 

Sunrising  found  us  twenty-five  hundred 
fathoms  above  the  plain,  all  Europe 
bathed  in  crimson  and  gold  —  resistless 
waves  of  sunshine  speeding  across  Asia  as 
if  breaking  in  surges  of  color  from  the 
Yellow  Sea — while  Africa  was  a  dimpling 
ocean  of  emerald  and  the  Indian  Ocean 
appeared  one  flaming  sheet  of  molten  gold. 
To  the  north  and  west  like  stately  ships 
anchored  in  spacious  harbors,  great,  fleecy 
cloud-islands  floated  back  and  forth  im- 
pelled by  the  soft  lapping  waves  of  an 
atmospheric  sea.  While  above  us  and 
beyond  the  influence  of  the  earth's  motion 
upon  its  axis — the  trade  winds  and  ajl  sur- 
face disturbances — the  grain  of  the  ever- 
stable  ether  and  elemental  gases  shown  in 
vertical  prisms  like  rainbow-pillars  of  some 
grand  cathedral  or  temple  of  the  spirits 
of  the  air. 

Whether  this  remarkable  demonstration 
of  the  higher  regions  should  be  accredited 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP       41 

to  the  horizontal  sun-rays  of  the  early 
morning,  or  was  caused  by  a  congestion  of 
color  values  due  to  the  presence  or  absence 
of  humidity  —  or  was  but  the  fore-gleams 
of  a  terrible  and  tremendous  storm  (thru 
which  we  sailed  some  hours  later)  we  could 
not  determine;  tho  probably  the  latter,  as 
indicated  by  the  presence  of  "False-Suns" 
and  "Halo-Rings"  often  preceding  storms. 

For  a  short  time  we  paused  above  Jeru- 
salem, musing  on  departed  greatness, 
longing  for  a  vision  of  future  glories. 

1 '  0,  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  kil- 
lest  the  prophets  and  stonest  them  that  are 
sent  unto  thee,  how  often  I  would  have 
gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a 
hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her 
wings,  and  ye  would  not.  Behold  your 
house  is  left  unto  you  desolate. ' '  For  two 
thousand  years  the  flood  of  thy  sorrow  hath 
not  been  assuaged,  nor  the  tides  of  thy 
unbelief  abated.  The  shame  of  thy  deso- 
lation is  known  of  all  men. 

Fear  not.  Thou  shalt  be  redeemed. 
Where  art  achieved  her  proudest  monu- 
ment and  poetry  found  her  sublimest  theme 
of  song,  immortality  and  eternal  life  shall 


42        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

be  brot  to  light  and  thy  glory  be  greater 
than  in  former  centuries. 

Turning  sharply  westward  we  sailed 
above  the  great  sea  till  the  delta  of  the 
Nile  was  reached,  when  once  more  our  ves- 
sel was  headed  southward  and  the  Dark 
Continent  was  ours  to  view. 

The  SAHARA,  wind-swept,  appeared  a 
yellow  haze,  but  the  valley  of  the  Nilus  — 
Granary  of  the  nations  and  Mother  of  civi- 
lization— shown  luxuriant  with  abundant 
harvests.  The  SPHINX  looked  calmly 
over  the  valley,  even  as  she  has  looked  for 
six  thousand  slow  revolving  years  of  his- 
tory, the  embodiment  of  self-control  and 
peace,  an  expression  of  antediluvian  con- 
ception of  two  sublime  attributes  of  the 
ever-living  God. 

0  Africa,  Africa!  Thou  birthplace  of 
civilization,  home  of  ART  and  GENIUS. 
When  shall  thy  greatness  be  renewed,  the 
wands  of  thy  superstitions  be  shattered, 
thy  darkness  dispelled,  thy  matchless 
waterways  and  inland  seas  be  opened  to 
commerce  and  thy  impetuous,  emotional 
people  disenthralled,  and  their  chains  of 
slavery  broken?  When  shall  thy  diamond 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        43 

reefs,  golden  dykes,  and  primeval  forests, 
yield  streams  of  plenty  and  peace  for  thine 
own  people  and  thou  once  more  take  thy 
place  in  the  activities  of  a  WORLD-LIFE? 

Surely  thy  second  BIRTH  must  be  close 
at  hand.  Verily,  thou  hast  slumbered 
long,  but  the  DAY  of  OPPORTUNITY  for 
thee  cannot  be  forever  past.  Nations  shall 
yet  rise  up  and  call  thee  blessed,  and  gener- 
ations yet  unborn  shall  worship  in  the 
temples  of  thy  greatness,  drink  from  thy 
fountains  of  refinement  and  culture  and 
learn  statecraft  and  self-control  in  thy 
schools  of  WISDOM. 

Magnificent  beyond  description,  easily 
outranking  all  other  landscapes  for  scenic 
beauty,  the  upper  valley  of  the  Nile  occu- 
pies a  place  solitary  and  above  all  others. 
Tanganyika,  Albert  and  Victoria  Nyanza, 
the  Congo  Basin,  —  and  then  illimitable 
storm-clouds  heaven-high  rolled  across  our 
southern  horizon.  Occasional  rifts  in  the 
clouds  revealed  unrivaled  landscapes,  but 
most  of  the  time  the  "NEW  ERA"  rolled 
and  plunged  thru  watery  wastes  now  black 
as  a  soul's  dishonor,  now  gleaming  with 
scrolls  and  tongues  of  flame  as  electric  cur- 


44       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

rents  blazed  pathways  thru  dark  vapors 
and  thick  clouds. 

Even  as  we  had  witnessed  the  strength 
and  fury  of  the  earth's  elemental  forces 
in  the  polar  regions,  so  today  we  were  to 
experience  the  full  and  perfect  might  of 
an  equatorial  storm  working  out  its  gas- 
eous equations  in  cloud-pavilions  above 
the  DARK  CONTINENT. 

From  the  chariots  of  morning  whirl- 
winds flung  themselves  into  the  conflict, 
while  upon  the  hurricane  decks  of  a  con- 
tinent the  oilskins  of  space  were  drenched 
with  foam.  CLOUD-SAILS  ripped  from 
the  masts  of  some  dismantled  planet  hung 
as  tattered  awnings  over  vast  vaporous 
plains,  where  electric  batteries  thundered 
in  spirit-battle. 

'Twas  a  day  of  gloom  and  dread  to  all 
on  board.  How  long  would  the  storm  last? 
Could  the  "NEW  ERA"  outride  the  fury 
of  elemental  forces?  Pestilential  vapors 
and  poisonous  gases  threatened  life  itself. 
Caught  in  vacuum-flues  the  noble  vessel 
descended  almost  to  the  tree  tops.  Grip- 
ped in  the  upward  rush  of  expanding 
gases  she  shot  upward  thousands  of  feet 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        45 

into  regions  of  intense  cold  or  scorching 
heat. 

Surely  we  were  learning  something  of 
the  fundamental  forces  with  which  this  old 
world  has  to  contend  in  its  progress  around 
the  sun. 

Fortunately  the  steering  apparatus  suf- 
fered no  damage  and  the  storm-zone  was 
crossed  ere  night  had  fallen  and  in  com- 
paratively fair  weather  we  proceeded  to 
Cape  Town,  where  we  anchored  in  safety, 
glad  that  the  glories,  wonders  and  dangers 
of  a  voyage  thru  an  African  equatorial 
storm  were  forever  past.  And  yet  this 
matchless  day  must  ever  remain  in  mem- 
ory as  a  splendid  symbol  of  that  glorious 
time  when  the  souls  of  men  loosed  from  the 
moorings  of  earth  shall  sail  the  broad 
Pacific  of  eternity  with  their  God. 


FOURTH  DAY. 

Pretoria,  Africa,  to  South  Pole. 

The  gaseous  cataclysm  of  the  previous 
day  having  restored  the  equilibrium  of  the 
atmospheric  world,  morning  broke  over 
southern  seas  in  wondrous  and  well-nigh 
perfect  tranquility.  Soft  lapping  tides 
and  gentle  swells  proclaimed  the  mighty 
deep  free  from  contending  forces,  and  the 
glassy  surface  stretched  away  in  unbroken 
beauty.  PEACE,  white-winged,  brooded 
over  this  vast  realm  of  the  unknown. 
Shadowy,  intangible  creations  of  the  imag- 
ination were  the  only  beings  that  had  ever 
explored  its  fartherest  mysteries,  but, 

' '  Full  well  we  know  that  fair  and  bright, 
Far  beyond  human  ken  or  dream, 

Too  glorious  for  our  feeble  sight, 
Thy  skies  of  cloudless  azure  beam.' 

Human  souls  must  ever  seem  timid  in 
the  presence  of  the  infinite  and  eternal  and 
all  our  spirits  throbbed  in  minor  strains 
as  the  "NEW  ERA"  swung  grandly  into 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        47 

space,  cut  loose  from  the  known  and  visi- 
ble, threw  out  her  challenge  to  elemental 
forces  and  began  her  voyage  over  seas 
unknown  and  continents  strange.  Sun- 
shine fell  in  unobstructed  splendor  every- 
where. No  need  to  sound  fog-horns  or 
flash  headlights  now,  for  no  other  craft 
ever  sailed  these  seas,  save  snowy  clouds 
that  dipped  their  white  wings  into  the  glit- 
tering foam  of  far-off  curved  horizons. 
Degree  after  degree  of  latitude  dropped 
behind.  The  ship's  chronometer  marked 
twelve  o'clock — high  noon — before  shad- 
owy outlines  of  the  ANTARCTIC  CONTI- 
NENT appeared. 

Dropping  five  hundred  fathoms,  but 
with  undiminished  speed,  we  proceeded  till 
wide- spreading  lowlands  gave  way  to  low- 
lying  hills  and  sharp  buttes,  when  sud- 
denly, to  left  and  right,  giant  beacon 
lights*  loomed,  vast  columns  of  smoke  shot 
upward  followed  by  sheets  of  flame  that 
were  quickly  displaced  by  tremendous  pil- 
lars of  volcanic  ashes.  Fine  dust  filled  the 
air  for  leagues  in  all  directions,  sulphurous 
smoke  partially  obscured  the  sun  and  a 
weird  spectral  light  pervaded  all  space. 
*Note — Mts.  Erebus  and  Terror. 


48       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

Combine  the  haze  of  Indian  Summer 
with  the  mists  of  winter,  fling  over  it  the 
soft  languorous  radiance  of  autumn  days 
with  the  tonic  and  balm  of  springtime,  and 
you  will  have  the  essence  of  this  wonder- 
ful day. 

As  the  smoke  mounted  higher  and 
higher,  denser  and  denser,  and  was  flung 
outward  as  from  a  central  dome  in  great 
awnings,  sunlight  failed,  the  lurid  gleam 
of  sulphurous  fires  mingling  with  the  finely 
powdered  ashes  took  on  the  countenance 
of  a  sea  of  blood  about  and  below  us,  while 
upward  against  the  background  of  cloud- 
ing smoke  appeared  flashing  scrolls  as  of 
molten  metal  whipped  by  mighty  winds. 

This  amazing  spectacle  continued  for  the 
space  of  half  an  hour.  Then  dull  rumblings 
were  heard,  followed  by  a  tremendous 
roar,  and  mud,  stones  and  molten  lava 
were  thrown  upward  with  irresistible  force 
many  hundreds  of  feet.  Shortly  all  noise 
and  tumult  ceased,  save  the  hiss  of  escap- 
ing steam,  from  the  smaller  volcano,  the 
fiery  mass  in  the  larger  crater  subsided, 
dropping  down,  down  hundreds  of  feet  to 
a  mere  speck  as  seen  from  our  telescopic 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        49 

windows.  But  the  calm  lasted  for  only  a 
few  minutes  and  was  followed  by  seem- 
ingly redoubled  energy.  A  roar  as  of  a 
thousand  thunders  combined  rose  with 
appalling  vibration,  the  crater  suddenly 
expanded  causing  great  chasms  in  the 
rocky  sides  thru  which  great  streams  of 
white-hot  lava  flowed  outward  to  the  sea. 
This  last  terrific  outburst  was  followed  by 
a  tremendous  earthquake  shock  that  set 
the  hills  trembling,  rent  the  plains  with 
mighty  seams  and  flung  the  sea  backward 
till  vast  plateaus  hitherto  submerged 
momentarily  appeared,  but  were  soon 
enveloped  by  the  returning  tidal-wave 
which  seemed  to  permanently  overflow  all 
but  the  highest  peaks  of  the  entire  conti- 
nent. 

Terrific  tho  the  convulsions  of  nature 
had  been,  almost  normal  conditions  pre- 
vailed in  three  hours,  the  smoke  cleared 
away  the  last  lingering  rays  of  the  sun 
fell  over  an  unbroken  sea,  the  fiery  ser- 
pents of  southern  constellations  gleamed 
in  the  azure  vault  of  heaven  and  calm  and 
holy  night  filled  terrestrial  space  and  held 
in  thrall  all  earthly  things. 


50        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

Swiftly  but  quietly  the  "NEW  ERA" 
sped  on. 

Our  hearts  were  awed  and  our  voices 
hushed  in  contemplation  of  the  majestic 
phenomena  we  had  just  witnessed. 

A  new  conception  of  OMNIPOTENCE 
was  born  in  every  life,  and  something  of 
what  this  earth  has  passed  thru — the  smelt- 
ing of  its  materials  in  the  fierce  fires — turn- 
ing of  the  mighty  lathe — the  rasping  of  the 
surface  with  floods  and  glaciers — to  fit  it 
for  the  habitation  of  man  dawned  on  our 
slow  hearts  and  dimly  we  wondered,  if  such 
be  the  process  of  material  things,  what 
must  be  the  might  and  splendor  of  that 
new  heaven  and  earth  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness,  and  the  infinite  and  eternal 
glory  of  that  after  life  in  a  PARADISE 
without  a  tempter,  an  inheritance  incor- 
ruptible and  undefiled,  where  life  and  light 
and  love  shall  be  triumphant  forevermore 
and  God  be  all  in  all. 

Planet  earth  holds  no  counterpart  of  the 
unutterable  desolation  of  the  physical  con- 
ditions of  the  south  pole  regions. 

No  open  sea.  No  verdant  land.  Snow 
and  ice  hold  sway  over  all.  The  solitude 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        51 

of  death  is  on  every  hand.  Silence  unutter- 
ably oppressive,  appalling,  commands  all 
form  and  substance.  No  sounds  save  the 
adjustment  of  ice-crystals  and  the  low 
wash  of  distant  seas  on  far-away  ice-bound 
coasts  where  bergs  were  quietly  slipping 
from  parent  shores  into  waters  that  should 
carry  them  to  a  more  hospitable  clime. 

Sleep,  we  could  not.  An  ever-increasing 
sense  of  exile — of  lostness — bordering  onto 
annihilation  gripped  soul  and  sense,  filled 
brain  and  eye.  That  spectral  sense  of  soli- 
tary confinement  that  drives  criminals  to 
insanity  when  placed  in  the  death-cell, 
raced  thru  nerve  and  artery  like  electric 
currents  in  the  muscles  of  a  galvanized 
corpse. 

Flesh  and  blood  could  not  long  stand 
such  tension,  and  gladder  hour  hearts  of 
mortals  will  never  know,  than  was  ours 
when  our  noble  vessel  weighed  anchor  and 
flung  herself  a  thing  of  life  and  power  thru 
rainbow-mists  and  halo-clouds  towards 
Patagonia's  rock-bound  coast. 

Tho  eight  thousand  miles  away,  HOME 
was  ours,  by  power  of  anticipation  and 
wireless  messages  of  the  mind. 


52        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

How  marvelous  is  the  mind  of  man! 
We  are  transported  on  shining  seas  of 
ecstacy  at  sight  of  a  beautiful  photograph, 
but  gaze  with  common-place  feelings  upon 
the  scenes  of  long  past  years  or  sublimest 
panorama  of  mountains,  seas  and  conti- 
nents as  transferred  by  human  eyes  to  the 
canvas  of  memory.  We  contemplate  with 
awe,  and  almost  worship  the  genius  that 
can  engrave  the  Lord's  Prayer  upon  a  sil- 
ver quarter,  but  forget  that  upon  the  gray- 
matter  of  the  brain  God  hath  written  the 
history  of  all  ages  past  and  traced  in  fade- 
less outline  the  matchless  landscapes  of 
youth,  maturity  and  age  upon  sensitized- 
films  that  forever  retain  their  lines  and 
definition  with  power  of  absolute  re-pro- 
duction when  placed  in  the  bath  of  mem- 
ory. 


FIFTH  DAY. 

South  Pole  to  Buenos  Ayres. 

Mindful  of  our  dangerous  experience 
over  arctic  seas,  we  proceeded  slowly  and 
kept  sharp  lookout  for  strange  phenomena, 
and  had  we  not  done  so,  we  should  have 
missed  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and 
momentous  discoveries  of  our  entire  voy- 
age, 

Matchless  theme  for  song  or  story — a 
submerged  continent,  the  "LOST  ATLAN- 
TIS"— has  been  located  in  various  quar- 
ters of  the  globe  by  different  writers,  until, 
like  the  great  American  desert,  this  funda- 
mental factor  in  the  world's  development 
during  bygone  ages,  had  become  a  fugitive 
and  vagabond  with  no  permanent  resi- 
dence, no  settled  run,  and  its  very  exist- 
ence was  questioned. 

Some  three  degrees  from  the  pole  we 
noticed  a  peculiar  expression  on  the  coun- 
tenance of  the  mighty  deep  as  of  shallow 
water  breaking  over  shoal-lands;  also  dis- 
covered that  a  vast  area  immediately 


54       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

northward  shown  amber  color  as  if  re- 
flected from  white  sands. 

Our  pilot  brought  the  vessel  to  anchor, 
descended  to  within  fifty  fathoms  of  the 
water  whence  submerged  forests  of  splen- 
did trees  became  visible.  For  league  after 
league  the  submerged  coast-line  of  this  pre- 
historic continent  was  clearly  defined  by 
rocky  bluffs,  wooded  heights  or  splendid 
lowlands.  Many  of  the  larger  trees  had 
fallen  as  if  in  the  path  of  some  fierce  tor- 
nado, but  many  were  standing,  thru  whose 
leafless  branches  washed  the  Antarctic 
sullen  tide. 

Winding  valleys  once  fertile  and  well 
watered  by  splendid  rivers  could  be  traced 
far  inland,  dotted  with  houses  and  frequent 
villages,  all  built  of  stone,  quarries  of 
which  appeared  in  many  places. 

Far  inland  and  probably  quite  centrally 
located  (tho  we  did  not  discover  either 
east  or  west  boundaries)  arose  magnificent 
ruins  of  a  once  populous  and  splendidly 
built  capital  city.  Large  areas  of  the  resi- 
dence portions  with  regularly  platted 
blocks  and  wide  avenues  still  remain  in 
almost  perfect  condition,  but  the  business 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        55 

blocks,  most  of  which  were  evidently  two 
and  three-story  buildings,  were  badly 
wrecked,  almost  certainly  by  earthquake, 
as  great  fissures  still  appeared  in  many 
places.  The  flat-tiled  roofs,  broad  veran- 
das and  spacious  gardens  of  the  residence 
portions  indicated  a  love  of  outdoor  life, 
as  well  as  a  comparatively  mild  climate, 
while  the  architectural  beauty  and  variety 
spoke  of  refinement  and  thrift. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature  of 
this  incomparable  ruin  was  a  number  of 
well  preserved  ships,  with  gaunt,  spectral 
masts  and  shreds  of  tattered  sail,  anchored 
in  the  spacious  harbor,  the  lake  source  of 
a  navigable  river.  Their  builders  have 
vanished,  but  they  remain,  mute  witnesses 
of  former  greatness  with  sodden  hulls  and 
decks  washed  white  by  ceaseless  waves, 
telling  with  voiceless  language  of  departed 
glory.  But  who  can  summon  their  dead 
crews  to  life?  Unfurl  their  shredded  sails 
or  unloose  them  from  their  moorings  for 
another  voyage?  Would  that  some  power 
could  translate  their  log-books,  reprint  the 
story  of  their  voyages  and  tell  of  the  car- 
goes they  carried. 


56       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

More  interesting  still  would  be  the  his- 
tory of  this  vanished  race.  How  long  ago 
did  they  live — and  whence  came  they? 
Were  they  the  LOST  TRIBES  of  ISRAEL 
thus  doomed  to  utter  extinction — the  an- 
cestors of  the  HYKSOS  or  shepherd 
dynasty  that  overthrew  the  Egyptian 
Pharaohs  preceding  the  advent  of  Israel  in 
Egypt — the  progenitors  of  the  mongol  race, 
the  Incas,  Aztecs  or  Mound-Builders — 
or  antedating  all  of  these  did  they  belong 
to  that  race  once  called  the  "SONS  OF 
GOD"  who,  contracting  marriages  with  the 
daughters  of  men  introduced  such  wicked- 
ness into  the  world  that  God  destroyed 
them  with  a  flood  that  could  not  be  abated? 

How  little  of  the  world's  history  we 
really  know!  And  much  of  that  is  pre- 
served only  in  ruins.  The  overgrown 
hearthstones,  crumbling  walls,  dismantled 
towers,  broken  columns,  thwarted  hopes 
and  blasted  dreams.  Just  a  few  fragments 
here  and  there  and  most  of  these  are  blood- 
stained and  battle-scarred.  The  civilized 
nations  stagger  under  THIRTY  BIL- 
LIONS of  WAR  TAXES  today  and 
still  we  summon  armies,  build  navies, 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP       57 

strengthen  fortresses  and  prepare  for  one 
supreme  world-struggle  when  once  the 
forces  of  hate  shall  dethrone  reason  and 
gain  the  ascendant  in  the  hearts  of  man- 
kind. 

How  long,  0  Lord,  ere  the  nations  shall 
comprehend  the  victories  of  PEACE  and 
get  far  enough  away  from  barbarism  to 
appreciate  the  charm,  dignity  and  glory  of 
brotherly  love;  grow  a  race  of  statesmen 
with  brains  and  hearts  large  enough  to 
understand  the  PATRIOTISM  of  PEACE, 
and  predicate  world-power  and  greatness 
upon  the  proposition  that  ALL  MEN  are 
BROTHERS,  and  that  each  man's  weal 
shall  be  every  man's  care;  That  it  is  higher 
statesmanship  to  prevent  war  than  to  plan 
magazines  of  destruction? 

With  reluctant,  sobered  hearts  we  sailed 
away  from  this  indestructible  mausoleum 
of  a  race,  pondering  deeply  many  ques- 
tions, when,  lo, — that  mysterious,  intangi- 
ble, unexplainable  thing  hitherto  known 
as  the  "  MIR  AGE  of  the  DESERT" 
loomed  on  our  northward  horizon. 

The  "NEW  ERA'S"  secretary  has  wit- 
nessed this  remarkable  creation  many, 


58        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

many  times  on  the  plains  of  northeastern 
Colorado,  before  that  stretch  of  desolation 
was  subjected  to  Irrigation's  Dominion, 
when  streams  of  living  water  broke  forth 
in  the  desert,  mighty  lakes  nestled  among 
the  sand  hills  and  lapped  their  crystal 
waves  on  grassy  wooded  slopes,  and  magic 
cities  appeared  in  the  Lowlands,  but  noth- 
ing ever  half  so  marvelous  as  this  which 
now  seemed  to  emerge  from  and  brood  over 
the  southron  sea. 

First  came  the  white-fog  in  snowy  scrolls 
and  fantastic  forms,  rolling,  twisting,  turn- 
ing like  a  living  thing,  permanent  but  ever- 
changing  towards  evanescence  like  the  gos- 
samer outlines  of  some  half-forgotten 
dream;  Then  great  steel-blue  banded  col- 
umns, surmounted  by  Alhambran  arches, 
domes,  turrets,  minarets,  bastions  and 
cathedral  spires  in  endless  profusion  were 
lifted  into  place  by  the  viewless  hands  of 
gravitation. 

Now  advancing,  now  receding,  like  the 
myriad  changes  of  the  starry  constella- 
tions in  the  eternal  minuet  of  the  centuries, 
this  unsubstantial  creation  of  the  atmo- 
sphere assumed  form  and  beauty  as  glori- 
ous as  the  incarnation  of  the  morning 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        59 

mists;  Rainbow  tints  hung  in  festoons  from 
cornice  and  facade  or  flashed  in  halos  from 
turrets  and  domes  till  cities  reeled, 
houses  became  heaps,  and  all  dissolving  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye  naught  remained 
save  the  broad  bosom  of  the  unruffled  shin- 
ing sea. 

Whether  these  matchless  creations  that 
enrapture  beauty-loving  eyes  are  caused 
by  varying  degrees  of  temperature  and 
humidity,  and  the  presence  of  some  undis- 
covered element  in  the  atmosphere,  or  are 
the  negative  outlines  of  prehistoric  cities 
photographed  upon  nature's  ether-films 
(as  trees  are  sketched  on  photographic 
rocks)  I  do  not  know;  but  certainly  it  is 
worth  a  trip  half  way  round  the  world  to 
see  one  of  these  marvelous  moving  pic- 
tures produced  by  Nature's  magic  powers. 

At  four  o'clock  P.  M.  the  islands  of  Tier- 
ra-del-Fuego,  the  Straits  of  Magellan  and 
the  mainland  of  South  America  were 
sighted,  and  a  shout  of  joy  and  thankful- 
ness arose  from  every  throat.  By  sun- 
down we  were  anchored  in  the  spacious 
harbor  of  Buenos  Ayres,  glad  and  happy 
that  in  one  more  day  our  voyaging  would 
be  o'er. 


SIXTH  DAY. 

Buenos  Ayres  to  New  Orleans. 

Since  ADAM  first  led  his  blushing  EVE 
adown  the  rose-bordered  pathways  of 
EDEN,  even  to  the  still  waters  of  Hidde- 
kel,  no  more  beautiful  scene  was  ever 
gazed  upon  by  mortal  eyes  than  the  wide- 
flung  Llanos  and  Pampas  plains  of  Argen- 
tina, Uruguay,  Paraguay  and  Brazil  when 
spring-time  freshness  clothes  their  mighty 
greens  and  adorns  their  sunny  slopes. 
Lowing  kine  in  peaceful  valleys,  wind- 
swept fields  of  wheat  on  breezy  uplands. 
Grazing  lands  sufficient  for  the  flocks  and 
herds  of  a  hemisphere;  Wheat  fields  large 
enough  to  grow  the  breadstuffs  of  a  world 
are  here  spread  out  in  unbroken  levels  that 
bewilder  the  mind  by  reason  of  their  large- 
ness. 

Somewhat  of  their  vastness  may  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  the  Trans-An- 
dean Argentine  and  Chile  railroad  now 
building  has  one  stretch  of  track  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  miles  long,  as 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        61 

straight  as  a  beam  of  light,  and  many 
sweeps  of  thirty  miles  without  a  curve. 

Upward,  still  upward,  rose  the  "NEW 
ERA"  till  the  great  city  blocks  appeared 
as  pawns  and  bishops  on  a  giant  chess- 
board, and  the  snowy  crests  of  the  Andes 
gleamed  like  immense  mirrors  westward, 
and  Rio  de  Janeiro  was  visible  on  our 
forward  port. 

In  the  realm  of  souls  far  on  toward  the 
steeps  of  the  eternal  hills  lie  breezy  up- 
lands, well  watered  as  a  garden  of  delight, 
where  mortals  first  feel  the  veiled  intima- 
tions of  their  Immortality,  autumn  days 
filled  with  the  harvests  of  achievement. 
What  this  stands  for  in  the  soul's  world, 
South  America  is  to  the  planet  earth.  No- 
where else  such  vast  plains,  such  lofty 
mountain  ranges,  such  magnificent  forests, 
such  tremendous  waterfalls,  such  an  abun- 
dance and  variety  of  animal  and  vegetable 
life.  This  is  God's  CLEARING-HOUSE 
of  the  world's  physical  forces;  The  chem- 
ical laboratory  whence  are  generated  the 
gases  necessary  to  sustain  animal  and 
vegetable  life  all  over  the  earth;  The  navel 
of  the  planet  where  converge  all  the  ele- 


62        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

mental  forces,  and  radiate  all  the  streams 
of  physical  energy. 

From  this  inheritance,  untouched,  un- 
polluted and  forever  inviolable,  flow  the 
streams  of  oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen  and 
carbon  that  are  forever  purifying  and  re- 
generating winds  and  waters,  producing 
vegetation,  neutralizing  putrefaction  and 
maintaining  the  permanency  of  the  sea- 
sons. 

From  this  laboratory  of  nature,  with 
converters  of  immeasurable  capacity, 
gases  are  blown,  vapors  condensed,  colors 
mixed,  shades  and  tints  in  endless  variety 
compounded,  till  the  whole  lower  atmo- 
sphere, violent  with  deadly  fumes  and  on 
the  verge  of  self-destruction,  is  caught  by 
the  trade  winds  and  borne  to  distant  lands, 
where  affinities  coalescing  conserve  the 
vegetable  and  animal  life  of  the  world. 

Viewed  from  above,  the  grain  and  fibre 
of  the  atmospheric  ocean  furnished  vast 
prisms  for  the  refraction  of  sunlight,  till 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  to  the  crest 
of  the  Andes  and  the  Uruguay  to  the  Ori- 
noco the  rolling  tides  of  a  continent  wide 
rainbow  glowed  and  blazed  in  indescriba- 
ble splendor. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        63 

Like  all  the  sunrise  and  sunset  glories 
of  a  thousand  ages  past  commingled  and 
blended  in  harmonious  proportions,  this 
sublime  landscape  fell  fresh  from  the  hand 
of  the  great  Limner,  changeless  forever- 
more.  Six  thousand  slow  revolving  years 
of  history  record  but  little  change.  Some- 
how in  the  inscrutable  wisdom  of  the  In- 
finite these  vast  solitudes  seem  almost  im- 
mune from  the  changeful  touch  of  human- 
kind. For  beasts  and  birds  and  creeping 
things  this  vast  domain  seems  held  in  trust. 
Here  the  lower  orders  of  creation  must 
make  their  final  stand  against  the  en- 
croachment of  the  forces  of  destruction. 

"Summer  and  winter,  day  and  night, 
cold  and  heat,  seed-time  and  harvest,  as 
long  as  the  earth  remains."  Let  flood  and 
flame  and  famine  do  their  worst, — 

"  Behind  the  dim  unknown 
Standeth  God  within  the  shadows,  keep- 
ing watch  above  His  own/ 
The  eternal  years  are  His. 

The  "Pearl  of  the  Antilles,"  the  flash- 
ing tides  of  the  Carribean,  and  the  Panama 
Canal,  all  in  full  view,  make  a  splendid 


64       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

picture  as  they  lie  framed  by  the  coast-line 
of  Central  America,  Mexico  and  the  United 
States,  but  more  wonderful  and  entrancing 
than  any  or  all  of  these  is  a  scene  below, 
about  and  above  us,  never  before  looked 
upon  by  human  eyes, 

The  mightiest  rivers  of  the  globe  flow 
in  the  ocean, — the  Japan  Current  and 
the  Gulf  Stream.  The  flow  of  all  land 
streams  combined  could  scarcely  equal 
these.  Born  in  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the 
Carribean  Sea,  they  flow  on  forever;  al- 
ways full,  yet  never  overflowing  their 
banks,  these  mighty  arteries  supply  the 
waters  that  make  the  circulatory  system  of 
a  universe.  Out  of  these  vast  cauldrons 
ever  brimming  full  by  the  fiat  of  the  eter- 
nal God, — land-locked  and  sun-heated, — 
rise  the  mists  and  vapors  that  supply  all 
the  land  streams  as  well  as  the  equalizing 
currents  which  satisfy  the  compensation- 
escapement  of  the  expansive  heat  of  the 
tropics,  and  the  congested  cold  of  the  poles. 
Without  these,  the  frigid  ZONES  must  be 
destroyed  by  eternal  cold,  the  torrid 
ZONES  consumed  by  endless  burnings. 

From  our  thousand  fathoms  of  altitude 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        65 

we  could  clearly  define  the  beginnings  of 
this  tremendous  river,  and  its  fountain 
head  is  in  the  Carribean  Sea. 

Carefully  scrutinized  by  the  aid  of  our 
telescopic  windows  reinforced  by  the  laws 
of  light  refraction,  the  tiny  currents,  ever 
larger  growing,  reaching  out  like  root- 
fibres,  but  converging  to  a  common  point, 
the  tributaries  of  this  perennial  stream 
could  be  seen  gathering  volume  and  mo- 
mentum until  the  vast  flood  becoming  irre- 
sistible burst  all  barriers,  and  sweeping  by 
the  Floridan  coast  took  up  its  splendid 
rush  for  the  heights  of  Labrador,  Green- 
land's promontories  and  Europe's  wide- 
flung  coast  lines. 

How  great  the  influence  upon  European 
climate,  vegetation,  animal  life  and  rain- 
fall of  this  majestic  flood,  has  perhaps 
never  been  fully  realized;  But  certain  it  is 
that  southern  California  has  had  two  or 
three  serious  droughts  and  consequent  crop 
failures,  in  less  than  forty  years,  co-inci- 
dent with  the  time  when  from  some  un- 
known cause  the  Japan  Current  has  been 
deflected  northward  to  the  Behring  Sea, 
thus  failing  to  distribute  necessary  vapors 
from  the  Golden  Gate  southward. 


66       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

We  speak  with  great  swelling  words  of 
OUR  harvests  and  OUR  progress  and 
development  in  material  prosperity,  but 
forget  that  if  GOD  should  cancel  or  change 
the  movements  of  ocean  currents,  or  post- 
pone the  engagements  of  winds  and  clouds, 
or  revise  the  schedule  of  the  sun  as  he 
marks  the  standard  TIME  for  the  seasons, 
that  the  sky  would  become  brass  and  the 
earth  as  iron.  That  "  Pestilence  would 
walk  in  darkness  and  destruction  waste  at 
noonday. ' 

If  such  be  the  might,  grandeur,  power 
and  influence  of  these  ocean  currents,  how 
shall  I  tell  of  the  marvelous  counterpart  of 
these  in  the  atmospheric  world  above  us? 

Speculative  science  (guessing  at  the  un- 
known) tells  us  that  the  earth  is  enveloped 
in  an  ocean  of  atmosphere  fifty  miles  high 
(just  why  fifty  miles  is  made  the  limit  is 
not  made  clear),  and  beyond  that  is  an 
unknown  SOMETHING,  probably  lumin- 
iferous  Ether  (or  diluted  moonshine?) 
which  pervades  limitless  space;  Also  that 
the  upper  regions  are  absolutely  cold  and 
forever  dark  because  there  is  nothing  from 
which  the  sun  can  be  reflected.  As  tho  the 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        67 

almighty  power  that  created  all  things 
could  not  make  a  sunbeam  luminous  in 
itself. 

Why  should  it  be  thot  a  thing  incredible 
that  the  power  which  could  create  a  sun- 
beam could  make  that  sunbeam  generate 
light  by  some  other  process  than  refrac- 
tion? 

In  all  seriousness  let  the  reader  ask  him- 
self,— "Why  not  suppose  the  sun  to  be 
composed  of  RADIUM,  or  some  other  sub- 
stance possessing  inherent  luminous  prop- 
erties? 

The  truth  is  that  many  of  the  deductions 
of  scientific  research  are  mere  guesswork, 
and  the  scientists  themselves  are  not  agreed 
on  many  propositions  and  conclusions  that 
the  Common  Herd  are  asked  to  accept 
without  question. 

Some  years  ago  Professor  Haeckel,  of 
Germany,  stood  before  the  scholarship  of 
the  world  as  sponsor  for  the  theory  of 
" Spontaneous  Generation."  He  declared 
that  " ONE-CELL-LIFE"  (from  which  all 
other  living  organisms  were  subsequently 
developed,  or  could  be  developed)  had  been 
generated  in  bygone  ages  in  Protoplasm,  or 


68       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

mud,  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  where  abso- 
lute darkness  must  have  reigned. 

Within  the  last  five  years  another  cele- 
brated German  professor  has  gone  on  rec- 
ord as  believing  that  LIFE  may  be  pro- 
duced by  means  of  rays  of  light  generated 
by  RADIUM. 

Which,  if  either,  shall  we  believe? 

Who  can  give  satisfactory  information 
as  to  the  causes  that  produced  the  PETRI- 
FIED FORESTS  of  Arizona? 

The  only  SANE  CONCLUSION  that  we 
may  reach  is,  that  there  have  been  and  are 
today  forces,  powers  and  processes  at 
work  in  the  material  world  about  us  that 
cannot  be  accounted  for  on  any  theory 
except  that  there  is  a  CREATIVE  INTEL- 
LIGENCE, The  CHRISTIAN  GOD,  behind 
all  things. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  upper  regions  are 
not  generally  and  permanently  cold,  as  has 
been  abundantly  demonstrated  by  ther- 
mometers attached  to  balloons  that  have 
reached  an  altitude  of  seven  or  eight  miles, 
where  warmer  temperatures  have  always 
been  recorded. 

Liquid  air  is  produced  by  a  series  of  con- 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        69 

tractions  and  expansions,  but  all  the  heat 
generated  by  earth,  seas  and  sun  flows 
upward  by  expansive  power,  and  there  is 
no  known  cause  for  contraction,  since  the 
cold  atmosphere  always  seeks  the  lowest 
levels  possible,  and  the  cold  of  the  polar 
regions  is  continually  brooding  low  over 
land  and  sea  as  it  sweeps  on  toward  the 
equatorial  furnace.  But  its  movements 
are  forever  being  modified  by  electrical 
currents  which  are  constantly  emanating 
from  the  earth  and  at  right  angles  from 
any  given  point;  Who  has  not  noted  the 
warm  and  cold  waves  of  air  along  the* 
country  road,  even  in  winter  time,  with 
snow  heavy  all  around? 

In  Colorado  warm  winds  rush  down  from 
the  eternal  snow  and  ice-fields  of  the  conti- 
nental divide  in  February  and  March,  melt- 
ing the  snow  of  the  plains,  the  ice  of  the 
streams,  and  pull  the  frost  out  of  the 
ground. 

As  already  stated,  the  ocean  currents  are 
born  in  the  Indian  Ocean  and  Carribean 
Sea;  and  here,  too,  originate  the  trade 
winds,  those  atmospheric  currents  that  con- 


70       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

trol  the  winds  and  storms  of  planet  earth. 
With  movements  constant  as  the  law  of 
Gravitation  they  flow  on  forever,  tho  mod- 
ified by  mountain  ranges.  Nature's  means 
of  transportation  for  the  vital  forces  that 
constitute  the  air  we  breathe,  and  bringing 
to  us,  it  may  be,  the  things  that  once  consti- 
tuted the  brain  of  a  Cicero,  or  the  muscles 
of  Rome's  fiercest  gladiator. 

Not  unto  angels  but  unto  MAN  was  sub- 
jected the  inhabitable  world  about  to  be. 
All  material  forces  conserve  MAN'S  inter- 
ests. The  earth  has  a  thousand  magazines 
of  power  for  which  MAN  alone  holds  the 
keys.  A  million  implements  of  blessing 
are  ready  for  MAN'S  hands.  Tho  we  catch 
the  sound  of  almost  universal  wasting  all 
about  us,  still  the  forces  that  work  for 
LIFE  are  stronger  than  those  that  work  for 
death,  and  an  eternal  RESURRECTION  to 
new  life  is  ever  going  on  in  the  things  that 
do  appear.  And  more  than  this,  MAN  him- 
self is  the  masterpiece  and  crowning  glory 
of  all  the  visible  universe.  Surely,  surely 
there  awaits  MAN  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness, 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        71 

and  MAN  is  destined  to  IMMORTALITY. 

"0  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the 
knowledge  and  wisdom  of  God!  how  un- 
searchable are  His  judgments  and  His  ways 
past  finding  out." 

The  Gulf  of  Mexico,  one  burnished  sheet 
of  living  gold,  lay  smiling  and  beautiful, 
kissed  into  tranquil  glory  by  the  last  lin- 
gering rays  of  the  departing  sun.  Purple 
shadows  climbed  higher  and  higher  along 
the  broad  plateaus  and  breezy  uplands  that 
terraced  the  blazing  summits  of  the  Cor- 
dillera. Far  beyond  their  rugged  majesty 
the  broad  Pacific  flamed  in  incomparable 
grandeur,  while  cloud-continents  swinging 
full  and  free  in  the  upper  air  reflected  the 
tremulous  radiance  of  the  AFTERGLOW 
upon  the  western  sea. 

But  dearer  far  than  the  afterglow,  than 
voices  of  sea  or  land,  are  the  lights  that 
flash  and  gleam  from  the  towers  and  domes 
of  the  Crescent  City  as  the  "NEW  ERA" 
drops  to  quiet  anchor  in  the  land  of  HOME, 
sweet  HOME. 


72        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

Low-arched  to  earth  the  heavens  bend, 

The  wind-harps  thrummed  and  soothed  to 
rest; 

Shades  of  night  with  day's  rich  colors  blend, 

The  sun  has  marked  a  trail  of  glory  in  the 
west. 

God's  hand  hath  set  the  evening  star 
So  low,  it  soon  must  pass  from  sight 

Beyond  the  purple  hills;  and  ocean's  bar 
Shall  darkened  be.   'Tis  calm  and  holy  night. 


Part  II 

AFTERGLOW 

Desirous  of  visiting  the  wonders  of 
Egypt  alone,  I  left  the  hotel  in  Cairo 
shortly  after  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
with  my  "Liquid  Air  Motorcycle "  and 
rode  for  eight  miles  along  the  shaded  road- 
way to  the  Great  Pyramid.  Leaving  the 
wheel,  I  climbed  the  great  pile,  passed 
round  to  the  other  side,  and,  descending, 
walked  over  to  the  Sphinx  to  watch  the 
effect  of  a  sunset  across  Sahara.  This 
done,  I  passed  around  to  the  eastern  base 
of  the  Sphinx  and  reclined  between  the 
mighty  paws  to  enjoy  the  beauty  of  the 
valley.  Somewhat  weary,  I  soon  passed 
into  quiet  slumber.  When  I  awoke  the 
twilight  had  shaded  into  glorious  moon- 
light. Reluctant  to  break  the  languorous 
spell  of  the  matchless  hour,  I  leaned  against 
the  rounded  throat  in  the  shadow  of  the 
wondrous  face,  musing  of  the  past,  ponder- 
ing the  future,  when  the  great  lips  seemed 
to  move  and  a  voice  of  marvelous  richness 
did  speak. 


74       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

Listening,  this  I  heard: 
THE  VOICE  OF  THE  SPHINX. 

Part  First. 

"The  dream  of  the  centuries  is  realized; 
the  great  canal  is  done.  Upon  the  bosom 
of  the  southern  sea  float  the  navies  of  the 
world,  gathered  in  honor  of  the  opening 
day.  All  nations  have  joined  hands  and 
treasuries  in  building  the  'Olive  Branch.' 
Wood  and  metals  of  all  lands  are  wrought 
into  her  mighty  hull.  Her  drawing  rooms 
are  enriched  with  jewels  from  every  clime; 
from  her  masts  stream  the  pennants  of  the 
world.  Even  now  the  tranquil  tides  of  the 
Carribean  and  the  wide-flung  Pacific, 
mingling  in  the  great  canal,  are  flashing 
from  her  gleaming  prow  on  the  trial  trip 
thro  the  heart  of  the  'Cordillera'. 

"In  all  lands  of  the  Orient  this  day,  June 
1st,  has  been  declared  a  gala-day  and  the 
people  everywhere  are  in  holiday  attire 
with  celebrations  and  merry-makings  of 
various  kinds.  In  South  America  univer- 
sal truce  had  been  declared  and  Revolution- 
ists vied  with  Governmentals  to  do  honor 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        75 

to  the  glad  day,  In  the  United  States; 
enthusiasm  is  boundless;  Uncle  Sam  has 
for  once  laid  aside  his  peculiarly  patriotic 
garb  and  passed  to  the  parade  grounds 
clad  in  spotless  white.  Ineed,  he  had 
issued  a  proclamation  requesting  all  citi- 
zens, everywhere,  to  clothe  themselves  on 
that  day  in  whitened  Ramie-Cloth — em- 
blem of  universal  peace.  Arnid  booming  of 
cannons  and  playing  of  bands,  the  people 
gathered  by  millions  to  listen  to  inspiring 
and  congratulatory  addresses.  Horses  and 
carriages,  automobiles,  railroad  trains  and 
trolley  lines,  water-craft  and  flying  ma- 
chines, all,  everywhere,  were  decked  in 
crystal  sprays,  even  Nature  herself  appear- 
ing in  robes  fit  for  the  Ascension  morning. 
Yes,  the  Panama  Canal  is  done.  Her  gate- 
ways wide-open  flung  invites  the  commerce 
of  the  nations. 

"The  'Cape  to  Cairo'  Railroad  recently 
completed,  has  just  issued  Time  Tables  and 
Freight  Rates.  Double-tracked,  rock-bal- 
lasted, equipped  with  electric  engines,  Pull- 
man, Observation  and  Hunting  Cars,  sched- 
uled to  one  hundred  miles  an  hour  thro 
grandest  natural  scenery  as  well  as  the 


76       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

most  wonderful  achievements  of  man  for 
six  thousand  years,  a  passage  by  her 
splendid  ways  is  necesasry  to  the  future 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  race  of 
mankind. 

"Leaving  Cape  Town,  one  soon  will 
reach  the  scenes  of  Bloemfontein,  where 
spectre  hosts  of  Boer  and  Britain  still 
struggle  in  spirit  battle  drop  over  the 
rocky  Velt  to  Orange  River  and  the  Brake- 
man  shouts  'Kimberley  and  the  diamond 
fields.'  Ten  minutes  and  you  are  off  again, 
along  the  hills  that  skirt  the  Belus  valley, 
past  Johannesburg,  with  visions  of  Cecil 
Rhodes  and  streams  of  gold,  to  Mafeking. 
Leaving  Pretoria  to  the  right  with  her 
memories  of  'Oom  Paul',  you  enter  the 
four-hundred-mile  avenue  of  mighty 
forests  and  tangled  swamps  that  leads  to 
Buluwayo  of  the  Matebeleland  and  the 
chasm  and  falls  of  the  Zambezi.  Shoshone, 
Niagara,  Zambezi,  these  three,  and  the 
greatest  of  these  is  Zambezi.  Inspiring, 
majestic,  approaching  the  sublime,  this 
handiwork  of  God  appeals  to  you  as  noth- 
ing else  can.  A  full  thousand  yards  in 
width  and  fathoms  deep,  this  mighty  river 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        77 

drops  more  than  a  hundred  feet  sheer  into 
the  lava-cleft  furrow,  regains  its  splendid 
quiet  and  tranquilly  flows  away  to  the  sea. 
Slowly,  steadily,  the  train  glides  out  upon 
the  longest,  highest  bridge  man  ever  built, 
till  you  seem  simply  suspended  by  view- 
less hands  in  mid  air  and  a  sickening  feel- 
ing takes  possession  of  you  as  you  think 
what  a  moment  of  time  may  mean  to  you. 
"Now,  for  the  heart  of  the  Dark  Conti- 
nent. Thundering  across  plateaus,  swing- 
ing around  mountains  whose  bases  are 
clothed  in  tropical  verdure  and  their  sum- 
mits white  with  eternal  snow,  sweeping 
thro  beautiful  parks,  towering  forests  or 
winding  slopes  of  magnificent  waterways 
to  Tanganyika,  where  an  ocean  liner 
awaits  to  carry  you  three  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  across  the  tranquil  deeps  of 
this  inland  tropical  sea.  Shades  of  Nim- 
rod!  Surely  the  Happy  Hunting  Grounds 
of  the  Great  Spirit  are  not  far  away,  for 
a  few  hours  in  these  mountain  solitudes 
means  Lion,  Tiger,  Behemoth,  Elephant, 
Rhinoceros  and  Giraffe.  Sweet  dreams 
are  these  on  a  moonlit  sea,  but  you  are  at 
the  landing  place,  and  'The  Ostrich  Plume 


78        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

Limited'  is  waiting  to  carry  you  on,  and 
on,  past  Albert,  Edward  and  Victoria 
Nyanza,  the  fountains  of  the  Bahr-el- Azrek, 
Fashoda,  Khartoom  and  the  Six  Cataracts 
of  the  Nilus  Flood  to  Assouan,  the  longest 
dam,  the  largest  artificial  lake  in  the  world 
and  the  greatest  irrigation  scheme  ever 
planned,  to  Diospolis-Magna,  Luxor,  the 
Terrestrial  home  of  Jupiter  Ammon,  Biban- 
el-Meluk  with  her  broken  sculpture,  crumb- 
ling temples  and  six  thousand  years  of 
history.  Karnak's  wondrous  facade  and 
spacious  halls  still  smiles  a  welcome,  but 
Twenty  Stadium  North  and  West  the 
granite  cliffs  of  the  Hekatompylos,  deep 
gashed  and  thunder  riven,  beckon,  and 
Cairo  with  her  Lotus-eaters  and  compara- 
tive study  of  humankind  is  near.  Adown 
the  banks  of  the  Nilus.  What  memories 
stir  the  blood  slow  pulsing  thro  mine  arter- 
ies! Israel  and  the  land  of  Goshen;  Moses 
and  Amense;  the  Pillar  of  Fire  and  the 
First-Born  slain;  the  Pyramids  and 
Pharaoh,  Alexandria,  Cleopatra,  Caesar 
and  Antony.  Behold  a  star  is  gleaming! 
Yes,  the  Ptolemys  light-house,  Colossus  of 
Rhodes,  has  fallen,  but  a  Radium  globe  has 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        79 

taken  its  place  and  you  are  at  your  jour- 
ney's end. 

"The  way  of  the  Euphrates  has  been 
dried  up  that  the  way  of  the  kings  of  the 
East  might  be  prepared  and  already  the 
iron  horse  is  neighing  across  the  Arabian 
sands  and  Mesopotamian  hills  from  the 
Persian  gulf  to  Jerusalem,  where  art 
achieved  her  proudest  monument  and 
poetry  found  her  sublimest  theme  of  song. 

"A  line  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Beyrut 
has  cleft  the  Caucasus  and  already  rations 
for  a  mighty  army  are  being  stored  in  the 
Cedars  of  Libanus. 

"Once  more  the  forces  of  hate  and  de- 
struction are  converging  in  Palestine; 
again  the  Spirit  of  War  is  brooding  over 
the  Plain  of  Esdraelon — that  battlefield  of 
ancient  nations.  From  Carmel  to  Mt.  Gil- 
boa;  from  Tabor  to  the  Hills  of  Asher 
shall  the  lines  extend,  till,  reeking  with 
human  blood,  Kishon  again  runs  crimson 
to  the  sea. 

"THE  DAY  OF  WRATH  IS  AT 
HAND." 


PART  SECOND. 

Armageddon. 

"  Peace  negotiations  are  broken.  Diplo- 
macy is  at  an  end.  The  arbitrament  of 
war  is  on.  The  nations  of  the  world  stand 
aghast.  Yet  for  this  hour  all  have  been 
preparing.  The  standing  armies,  battle- 
ships and  armored  cruisers — what  else 
could  all  this  artillery  of  destruction  mean? 
Martial  music  girdles  the  earth  and  fills 
the  sky.  From  near  and  far  the  clans  are 
gathering.  The  savagery  in  man  is  once 
more  in  the  ascendant  and  must  find  ex- 
pression in  one  supreme  effort.  The 
world's  Armageddon  is  on.  'For  nation 
shall  rise  against  nation  and  kingdom 
against  kingdom,  and  there  shall  be  fam- 
ines and  pestilences  and  earthquakes  in 
divers  places.  All  these  are  the  beginning 
of  sorrows.'  Verily,  I  say  unto  you  this 
nation  (the  Hebrews)  shall  not  pass  (from 
power)  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled. 
The  chronometer  of  the  universe  is  strik- 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        81 

ing  Twelve:    THE  HOUR  OF  THE  JEW 
HAS  COME. 

"Intoxicated  by  her  triumph  over  Rus- 
sia, Japan  has  inspired  the  people  of  Asia 
to  demand  in  international  diplomatic 
circles  a  recognition  of  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine as  applied  to  Asiatics.  This  granted, 
emissaries  of  the  Sunrise  Kingdom  have 
easily  stirred  the  people  of  the  Philippines 
and  Hindostan  to  demand  absolute  self- 
government,  also  China  to  inaugurate  a 
commercial  war  upon  the  United  States  on 
account  of  the  harshness  of  her  Chinese 
exclusion  laws  and  also  to  insist  that  Chi- 
nese be  admitted  to  equal  privileges  with 
European  nations  whose  people  desire  to 
emigrate  to  America,  while  Islam  and 
Buddha's  millions  have  risen  in  one  heroic, 
half -frenzied  effort  to  force  back  the  tide 
of  the  Nazarine's  teaching. 

France  and  Germany,  forgetting  old 
troubles  on  account  of  the  common  danger 
— Mongol  invasion — have  joined  hands 
with  Russia  in  a  final  attempt  to  crush 
Japan,  while  Italy  and  Turkey  have  sep- 
arated on  religious  grounds. 

"Thus  the  summer  of  191 —  found  the 


82        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

armies  of  the  world  concentrating  their 
engines  of  slaughter  on  the  old  battle  field 
of  nations — the  plains  of  Megiddo.  Ex- 
tending from  Mt.  Carmel  to  Gilboa  were 
the  trained  legions  of  the  United  States, 
France,  Germany,  Italy,  Russia,  Austria 
and  England,  twenty  millions  in  battle 
array,  while  northward  from  left  to  right, 
China,  Turkey,  Japan  and  India  had  thirty 
millions  of  stalwart  defenders  ranged 
along  the  Hills  of  Asher  to  Mt.  Tabor. 
Defences  of  stone  and  earth  reached  the 
entire  distance  from  the  Great  Sea  to  Jor- 
dan valley  and  a  half  million  cannon  of 
every  range  and  calibre  were  massed  in 
batteries  on  either  side. 

"As  the  sun  rose  over  the  heights  of 
Gilead  on  the  morn  of  Sept.  1st,  191 — , 
five  hundred  thousand  brazen  throats 
spoke  in  tones  of  death  from  Carmel  to 
Gilboa.  The  hosts  of  Buddha,  Mohammed 
and  Confucius  responded  with  equal  power 
and  for  four  murderous  hours  the  air  was 
full  of  shrieking  shot,  hurtling  shell  and 
bursting  bombs.  Suddenly  the  hills  of 
Asher  became  silent,  the  smoke  of  battle 
lifted,  and  down  the  slopes  and  across  the 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        83 

valley  swept  a  million  men  with  guns 
gleaming  and  banners  flying,  while  fierce 
battle-cries  rent  the  air  and  the  earth 
trembled  beneath  their  splendid  tread. 
The  infuriated  hosts  of  Islam  and  Buddha 
with  their  red  caps  and  shining  bayonets 
seemed  a  river  of  blood  mingled  with  fire 
cleft  in  twain  by  the  saffron  plumes  of  the 
Mongol  horde.  Up  the  slopes  they  come. 
They  are  met  by  sheeted  flame — cannon 
balls  mow  great  swaths  thro  their  ranks, 
leaden  hail  smites  them  down  in  windrows 
— electric  wires,  blazing  from  mighty  dyna- 
mos, scorch  and  wither  thousands — under- 
ground nitro-glycerine  magazines  explod- 
ing creates  havoc  for  a  moment,  but  nof 
nearthly  power  can  stop  this  human  tide; 
higher  and  still  yet  higher  it  rolls,  over  the 
breastworks  they  go  and  swords  flash 
blood-red  in  hand-to-hand  conflict.  The 
roar  of  artillery  has  ceased;  friend  and  foe 
mingle  in  personal  combat.  'Tis  a  strug- 
gle for  self-preservation.  The  chug  of 
bayonet  and  swish  of  sword,  rush  of  charge 
and  dying  groans  extends  over  hill  and 
vale  till  the  sun  dips  in  the  crimson  tide  of 
the  great  sea  and  night  shuts  out  that  aw- 


84       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

ful  scene.  Slowly,  sullenly,  the  Oriental 
warriors  recross  the  Kishon,  but  they  leave 
behind  on  those  blood-stained  heights  one 
hundred  thousand,  lovers,  husbands,  fath- 
ers, silent  in  the  embrace  of  death.  Hoping 
for  confusion  and  disorder  that  might 
change  to  panic,  sunrise  of  the  second 
witnessed  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand Anglo-Saxons  hurled  like  a  human 
avalanche  across  the  plain.  The  attempt 
was  futile.  All  day  long  the  battle  ebbed 
and  flowed,  a  mighty  sea  of  death  wherein 
valor  and  patriotism  availeth  not.  Plainly 
it  was  a  war  of  extermination,  or  universal 
peace;  neither  side  could  surrender;  all 
should  not  die. 

"The  genius  of  destruction  seemed  to 
have  entered  this  maelstrom  of  hell.  To 
the  awful  carnage  of  deadly  strife  was 
added  the  horrors  of  Asiatic  cholera  on  the 
one  side  and  a  scourge  of  black  death  on 
the  other,  and  all  aggravated  by  the  hot- 
test September  Syria  shall  ever  know. 

"Driven  to  desperation  by  the  intoler- 
able stench  of  decaying  bodies,  the  twen- 
tieth day  saw  cessation  of  hostilities,  to 
bury  the  slain;  over  a  million  were  laid  in 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        85 

unknown  graves,  but  with  reason  de- 
throned and  hate  still  in  the  ascendant  on 
the  morrow  the  struggle  was  on  again. 

"  Certain  it  was,  at  Home,  desire  for 
peace  on  some  terms  was  gaining  ground. 
The  absolute  and  utter  crime  of  war  was 
growing  plain  to  all  nations. 

"  Enervated  by  the  intense  heat,  blinded 
by  dust  of  the  swirl  and  hurricane  of 
charge  and  counter-charge,  side  by  side 
with  the  dead  putrefying  in  the  trenches, 
the  flower  and  manhood  of  the  allied  forces, 
day  after  day,  week  after  week,  resisted 
the  onslaught  of  the  seemingly  ever  in- 
creasings  hosts  of  fanaticism  and  religious 
maniacs,  who  fought  like  furies  rather 
than  men,  and  revelled  in  destruction  like 
fiends  incarnate. 

"So  passed  September's  thirty  leagues 
of  time,  and  October's  golden  scroll  began. 
A  crescent  of  fire  the  moon  hung  in  the  sap- 
phire vault  where  worlds  are  born,  stars 
cradled  and  suns  are  wrapped  in  swad- 
dling bands  of  fire.  Meanwhile  the  sinews 
of  war  are  gathered  up  by  the  sons  of  Abra- 
ham, and  not  a  dollar  on  stocks  or  bonds 
could  any  government  borrow  with  which 


86       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

to  prosecute  the  conflict.  Like  Hagar  in 
the  desert,  the  armies  in  the  field  seemed 
on  the  verge  of  famine  when  the  sun  of 
October  ninth  dipt  into  the  western  sea, 
leaving  a  trail  of  amber  light  that  hung 
like  a  golden  mist  over  the  hills  of  Pales- 
tine while  the  contending  armies  were  awed 
into  a  truce  by  an  unnatural  calm  as  often 
precedes  some  great  calamity  about  to 
overtake  the  world's  material  forces.  Are 
the  laws  of  gravitation  about  to  be  sus- 
pended. Light  and  heat  withdrawn? 
Consternation  appeared  on  every  face. 
Every  heart  trembled  on  the  verge  of 
panic.  At  nine  P.  M.  the  moon  was  gone — 
the  plain  of  Esdraelon  was  silent  as  a 
tomb.  When  lo!  a  cohort  of  mailed  war- 
riors in  forms  of  lambent  flame  swept  down 
the  valley,  Saul  (Israel's  first  king)  in  the 
lead.  Benhadad  and  the  Syrian  horsemen 
soon  followed,  and  then  appeared  in  mar- 
tial array  the  hosts  of  Joshua  and  Gideon, 
the  Philistines  and  Samson,  Goliath  and 
Israel's  poet  king,  the  vassals  of  Persia 
and  Egypt's  heroes,  Sennacherib  and  the 
ANGEL  OF  THE  LORD,  Tamerlane, 
Tancred,  Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart,  Sala- 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        87 

din  and  the  Crusaders.  In  sublime  and  en- 
trancing pantomine  the  battles  of  the  ages 
past  were  reproduced — the  spear  and 
shield,  battle-axe  and  sword,  fiery  chargers 
and  swift  footmen,  kings,  princes  and 
prophets, — one  marvelous  vision  of  the 
eternal  failure  of  war  and  forces  of  hate  to 
solve  the  earthly  problems  of  the  Offspring 
of  God. 

"As  the  fiery  squadrons  wheeled  into 
spirit  battle,  now  advancing,  now  retreat- 
ing, a  sickening  sense  of  the  awfulness  of 
war  was  borne  in  upon  the  reason  and  con- 
science of  the  mighty  armies  of  flesh  and 
blood  witnessing  the  God-revealed  phe- 
nomena of  the  midnight  hour  upon  the 
accursed  plain. 

"With  the  first  streaking  of  dawn  of 
October  10th,  the  vision  passed.  The  im- 
pression indelible  forever,  remained. 

"As  the  sun  broke  across  the  Galilean 
hills  a  strain  of  wondrous  music  swelled 
along  the  plain  from  Carmers  heights  to 
Jordan's  flashing  tide.  As  the  echoes, 
faint  from  farthest  distance  borne,  ceased, 
a  tremendous  blast  of  bugles  rent  the  air, 
and  changing,  a  mighty  voice  became,  from 


88       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

out  of  the  EVERYWHERE  into  the 
HERE,  slowly,  grandly  saying,  'PRO- 
CLAIM LIBERTY  THROUGHOUT  THE 
LAND  TO  ALL  THE  INHABITANTS 
THEREOF!  THE  YEAR  OF  JUBILEE 
HAS  COME!' 

"Thrilled  forty  million  hearts!  A  uni- 
versal shout  of  'PEACE'  arose  till  the 
hills  seemed  to  reel  and  tremble  as  with  an 
earthquake  shock;  Rabbi  Ben  Israel  rode 
slowly  adown  the  valley  with  a  magnificent 
banner  of  pure  white  borne  proudly  aloft, 
inscribed  with  one  word,  'PEACE'  in 
letters  of  gleaming  gold,  that  waved  and 
tossed,  a  thing  of  life  in  the  tranquil  atmo- 
sphere as  if  by  fitful  breezes  borne. 

"The  first  to  join  him  was  the  com- 
mander of  the  American  forces,  bearing 
aloft  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  but  above  them 
streamed  a  pennant  of  white.  England, 
Germany,  France,  Russia,  Austria  and 
Italy,  all  with  white  above,  flags  below, 
soon  followed,  and  were  quickly  met  by 
Japanese  and  the  Hindostan,  Ottoman 
Crescent  and  Cross,  and  the  fiery  dragons 
of  SHIH-PA-SANG,  all,  all  beneath  the 
streamers  of  shimmering  white. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        89 

"A  proclamation  of  UNIVERSAL  AND 
EVERLASTING  PEACE  was  immediately 
signed  by  representatives  of  every  nation, 
— dispatched  to  Beyrut, — cabled  to  every 
seat  of  government, — ratified  and  spread 
abroad  in  every  land. 

"The  SPIRIT  of  everlasting  LOVE  has 
come  to  reign  f orevermore. ' ' 


PART  THIRD. 


Progress. 


"Five  years  have  passed  into  eternity. 
Years  of  absolute  peace  and  world-wide 
prosperity.  National  debts  everywhere 
have  been  paid  in  full,— a  spirit  of  brother- 
hood and  universal  good-will  is  abroad  in 
every  land.  The  navies  of  the  nations 
converted  into  merchant  marine  are  busy 
with  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Receipts 
of  the  Panama  Canal  alone  have  been  suf- 
ficient to  satisfy  every  national  obligation 
of  the  Americas,  while  the  millions  hereto- 
fore expended  upon  the  army  and  navy 
have  been  invested  in  highways  of  com- 
fort and  free  telephone  lines  for  every 
Home.  That  bane  of  country  life — iso- 
lation— removed,  the  congested  population 
of  the  cities  flowed  out  upon  the  farms, 
and  wages  rose  in  mills  and  factories,  shops 
and  stores,  till  the  family  income  warran- 
ted setting  the  children  free;  and  the  Red 
Cross  Society  is  being  recognized  in  such 
a  way  as  to  provide  homes  and  education 
for  every  child  of  misfortune. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        91 

"The  reduction  of  taxes  alone  in  Ori- 
ental lands  has  warranted  the  opening  at 
public  expense,  Chautauquas  and  public 
libraries  in  every  community;  also  pleasure 
parks  with  magnificent  art  galleries  and 
pavilions  where  trained  orchestras  dis- 
course matchless  music  every  evening  of 
the  year.  So  pronounced  has  been  the 
favor  of  the  people  for  these  better  things 
that  beer-gardens  and  wine  rooms  have 
been  abolished  from  want  of  human  beings 
who  would  waste  their  lives  in  everlasting 
shame. 

"The  Spirit  of  Universal  Justice  en- 
throned in  a  majority  of  lives,  Hope  gilds 
every  face,  and  ignorance  and  superstition, 
children  of  hate  and  fear,  have  given  place 
to  knowledge  and  wisdom.  Business  has 
come  to  mean  friendship,  and  government 
the  highest  exponent  of  love:  That  mael- 
strom of  destruction  for  manhood  and  bot- 
tomless pit  for  money,  the  Standing  Army, 
has  become  a  fountain  of  blessing,  produc- 
tive energy,  in  every  realm  of  human  de- 
sire, and  the  face  of  planet  Earth  is  fast 
becoming  a  garden  of  Delight, — A  paradise 


92        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

without  a  tempter,  an  inheritance  without 
a  stain. 

"By  means  of  underground  waterways 
the  Nilus  is  fast  converting  the  Great  Des- 
ert into  an  empire  of  material  splendor  that 
shall  call  forth  the  admiration  of  the  world 
and  SAHARA  shall  yet  become  the  HOME 
of  a  self-reliant  and  happy  people, — the 
ages-oppressed-long-suffering  sons  of  Ham. 

"By  universal  consent  and  the  everlast- 
ing laws  of  Truth  and  Right,  Palestine 
belongs  to  ISRAEL.  Gathered  there  ere 
long  shall  be  the  splendid  remnant  of  that 
mighty  people  who  have  wrought  the  per- 
petual miracle  of  maintaing  their  per- 
sonal identity,  customs,  laws,  govern- 
ments and  heroic  virtues  without  a  coun- 
try,— without  a  Home,  thro  Two  Thousand 
years  of  unflagging  persecution,  wherein 
Millions  have  suffered  wanton  cruelties  and 
violent  martyrdom,  unprovoked,  yet  thro 
all  have  ever  led  in  the  far-flung  battle- 
line  of  progress,  gracing  every  age,  enrich- 
ing every  land,  inspiring  all  people  with 
the  very  Genius  of  unsullied  and  unfad- 
ing greatness.  Call  the  Roll  ol  earth's 
greatest  in  every  realm!  Summon  the 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        93 

dead  to  life  from  Mesopotamia  westward 
thro  Three  Hundred  and  Sixty  Degrees  of 
terrestrial  Longitude!  Round  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  in  every  worthy  achievement! 
bcour  the  broad  Pacific  of  Time  even  to 
the  Golden  Gate  of  Eternity, — Statecraft, 
Poesy,  Music,  Art,  Finance,  —  Moses, 
David,  Raphael,  Angelo,  Mendelssohn, 
Beethoven,  Rothschilds,  Disraeli,  —  and 
fathom  if  you  can  the  vision  of  Jehovah's 
promise — 'I  will  bless  thee  and  make  thee 
a  blessing/  " 

"  Vigorous  from  the  loom  of  suffering 
with  infinite  patience  borne,  the  King  to 
his  own  has  come. 

" Oh  Jerusalem!  Jerusalem!  Streams  of 
honor  and  blessing  shall  yet  flow  from  thy 
gates  to  Mount  and  sea  in  every  land. 

"In  the  Pyrenees,  Alps,  Ural,  Caucasus, 
Himalayas,  Ghauts  and  Altai  mountains 
unmeasurable  water  power  has  been  devel- 
oped, and  electric  car  lines  extend  all  over 
Europe  and  Asia,  with  the  result  that  dia- 
lects and  tribal  relations  have  been  broken 
down,  and  social  and  business  intercourse 
unrestricted  makes  for  mutual  apprecia- 
tion and  respect,  and  the  vast  multitudes 


94        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

that  have  lived  in  hopelessness  and  desper- 
ation are  fast  exploring  the  wonders  of  the 
new  worlds  abounding  on  every  hand  at 
their  very  doors,  while  facile  transporta- 
tion has  banished  famine,  and  what  was 
worse, — the  fear  of  it. 

"In  the  Hindoo-Koosh  Mountains  hot 
springs  abound,  and  following  their  under- 
ground channels  vast  beds  of  radium  were 
found.  Pyramids  of  this  original  source 
of  Light  and  Heat  (substance  of  the  central 
Sun  of  our  Universe)  have  been  erected  at 
frequent  intervals  across  northern  Europe 
and  Asia,  resulting  in  such  a  modification 
of  temperature  that  these  magnificent  areas 
have  become  the  most  desirable  agricul- 
tural regions,  thus  relieving  the  unpleas- 
ant conditions  of  the  overcrowded  popula- 
tions that  have  for  centuries  blocked  the 
ways  of  moral  and  individual  progress. 

"In  the  extremely  cold  portions  of  the 
earth  liquid  air  factories  have  been  estab- 
lished, and  liquid  air  is  piped  to  all  equa- 
torial regions.  These  factories  consist  of 
steel  flues  one  thousand  feet  high,  with 
suction  fans  at  the  bottom.  From  thence 
the  atmosphere,  greatly  reduced  in  temper- 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        95 

ature,  is  forced  through  a  series  of  vaults 
and  pipes  that  alternately  expand  and  com- 
press it  till  liquefaction  is  reached.  Ozone, 
electricity  and  oxygen  thus  combined,  have 
proved  an  absolute  remedy  for  Tubercu- 
losis in  every  form,  and  the  White-Death- 
Scourge  is  limited  to  the  present  genera- 
tion. 

"Thus  shall  be  consummated  earth's 
physical  redemption,  and  all  her  forces  and 
powers  become  subject  to  man's  dominion 
to  conserve  the  health,  happiness  and  prog- 
ress of  a  race  destined  to  ultimate  perfec- 
tion. 

"PEACE,  PATIENCE,  LOVE!  Un- 
conquered,  unconquerable,  immortal  pow- 
ers! These  three  shall  work  their  ways 
sublimely  on  to  universal  dominion  and 
their  victories  shall  be  as  enduring  as  the 
light  of  the  fixed  stars,  their  reign  as  glori- 
ous as  the  presence  of  the  Infinite  God  in 
an  eternal  EDEN. 

"Six  thousand  slow  revolving  years 
have  passed  since  I  was  born;  Highest  ex- 
pression of  Humanity's  loftiest  Ideal 
wrought  in  enduring  stone.  I  stand  thro 
all  ages  for  ABSOLUTE  SELF-CONTROL 


96       TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

and  EVERLASTING  PEACE,  —  Sublime 
attributes  of  the  EVER-LIVING  GOD." 

High  in  the  heavens  a  golden  ball  by 
viewless  hands  of  gravitation  swung,  the 
moon  flooded  the  Earth  with  a  splendid 
radiance,  lighted  the  tranquil  face  with 
infinite  charm  and  kissed  the  placid  Nilus 
with  unfading  glory  as  the  midnight  hour 
returned  me  safe  to  Cairo. 


THE  FRUITS  OF  PEACE. 

With  the  heresy  of  war  expunged  from 
the  catalog  of  human  affairs,  all  tides  of 
mortal  energy  flowed  in  streams  of 
blessing  that  wrought  abundant  prosperity 
in  all  material  lines;  but  most  pronounced 
was  the  leaven  of  progress  in  personal  up- 
lift to  mind,  conscience  and  aspiration, 
which  not  simply  renovated,  but  absolutely 
re-created  the  basis  of  character:  Lofty 
purposes  and  holy  ambitions  possessed  all 
thot  and  life:  Unconquered  mind  and 
Freedom's  holy  flame  blazed  the  ascending 
pathway  for  an  exalted  patriotism  which 
expressed  itself  in  an  enthusiasm  for  the 
maintenance  of  government,  her  laws  and 
ordinances. 

To  live  for  one's  country.  To  pre- 
serve and  conserve  the  dignity  and 
glory  of  highest  citizenship  became  a  pas- 
sion among  the  youth  of  the  world.  Every- 
where the  reach  and  grasp  of  finer  sensi- 
bilities and  keener  susceptibilities  became 
apparent.  Rapidly  and  permanently  all 
the  higher  virtues  were  invested  with  the 


98        TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

charm  of  heroism.  Courage  was  no  longer 
considered  as  simply  a  physical  trait,  but 
entering  the  realm  of  TRUTH  men  dared 
to  quit  white-lying  and  legal  trickery, — 
abandoned  diplomacy  that  sought  to  out- 
wit the  other  fellow  (tho  still  employing 
splendid  skill  and  finesse  in  every  worthy 
enterprise)  and  standing  in  the  open  in- 
vited inspection  of  motive  whether  in  busi- 
ness or  politics.  Both  men  and  women 
came  to  see  that  moral  excellence  and  per- 
sonal worth  should  be  the  standard  of 
social  rank,  rather  than  wealth  that  too 
often  flowed  in  streams  of  debasement. 

Out  of  this  new  interpretation  of  the  so- 
cial order  came  a  generation  of  children  no 
longer  hedged  by  artificials, — not  cut  and 
plugged  to  size, — but  natural.  The  genius 
of  each  one  developed  under  inspiration  of 
highest  motives  and  absolute  freedom,  the 
scope  and  field  of  educational  attainment 
is  infinitely  widened. 

Not  simply  five,  but  scores  of  senses  are 
manifested.  Extraordinary  powers  physi- 
cal, musical,  intuitive,  hitherto  regarded 
as  GIFTS  and  their  possessors  as 
11  FREAKS,"  are  now  known  to  be  but 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP        99 

normal  conditions  for  mankind  and  the 
creations  of  inventive  genius  necessary  to 
satisfy  the  new  conditions  have  led  to  un- 
limited fields  for  business  and  govern- 
mental effort. 

Instead  of  millions  for  battleships, 
gatling-guns  and  other  magazines  of  de- 
struction, governments  now  appropriate 
millions  for  schools  of  INVENTION, 
where  sons  and  daughters  of  a  race 
of  ever-increasing  longevity  reign  as  kings 
and  queens  in  the  realms  of  discovery  or 
creative  force,  or  serve  as  priests  and 
priestesses  in  the  temples  of  domestic  hap- 
piness across  whose  thresholds  no  shadow 
of  war  or  pestilence  ever  falls,  for  with 
right-thinking  and  living  almost  every 
form  of  disease  and  scourge  has  vanished 
from  the  earth. 

Relieved  from  the  financial  burdens  of 
war,  with  the  millions  of  men  who  com- 
posed standing  armies  returned  to  indus- 
trial pursuits  and  producing  wealth  instead 
of  destroying  it,  the  resources  of  nations 
have  so  tremendously  increased  that  ample 
provision  has  been  made  for  all  unfortun- 
ates as  well  as  criminals,  the  slums  of  cities 


100     TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

have  been  almost  abated  and  poverty  and 
crime  have  almost  ceased  to  exist. 

With  the  reign  of  perennial  peace  came 
an  appreciation  of  the  real  value  of  life, — 
its  range  and  register  clearly  defined  gave 
new  zest  and  wider  interpretation  of  man- 
hood,— an  exalted  MANHOOD  that  was 
more  than  surface  polish,  beyond  esthetic 
culture,  above  all  earthly  rank  partaking 
of  divine  permanency  and  greatness,  as  the 
standard  of  desire  and  hope  of  attainment. 

With  no  spirit  of  war,  ghost  of  ven- 
geance, nor  phantom  of  destruction  racing 
thru  heart  and  brain  in  the  earth-life 
watches  of  the  soul,  all  deformities  of  De- 
sire and  Disposition  (as  well  as  of  body) 
largely  disappeared  and  a  well-balanced 
self-controlled,  beautiful  race  multiplied 
and  replenished  the  earth  and  received  for 
INHERITANCE,  dominion  over  all  mate- 
rial forces. 

Thus  was  consummated  man's  physical 
regeneration,  ever-inspired  and  led  on  by 
"THE  PRINCE  of  PEACE." 


CONSERVATION   OF  NATURAL 
RESOURCES. 

My  purpose  holds — 

To  sail  beyond  the  limit  of  seasons, 
And  the  pathways  of  all  wandering  stars, 

Till  I  reach  the  TREE  of  LIFE, 
In  the  midst  of  the  GARDEN  of  HOPE, 

And  eating  thereof,  live  forevermore. 

How  large  the  life  in  the  GARDEN  of  HOPE ; 

How  sweet  the  fruit  of  the  TREE  of  LIFE ; 

How  mighty  the  strength  that  surely  can  cope 

With  the  spirit  of  Shadow,  Darkness  and 
Strife. 

How  matchless  the  vision  of  Growth  and  of 
Growing ; 

How  sweet  to  the  senses ;  Oh  the  infinite  span 
Of  the  healing   and  feeling  and  rapture   of 
Knowing 

The  mysteries  and  wonders  and  glories  of 
MAN. 

"New  occasions  teach  new  duties; 

Time  makes  ancient  good  uncouth. 
We  must  upward  still  and  onward 

Who  would  keep  abreast  of  truth. 


102      TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

Lo!  before  us  gleam  her  campfires; 

We  ourselves  must  pilgrims  be, 
Launch  our  Mayflower  and  steer  boldly 

Thru  the  desperate  winter  sea, 
Nor  attempt  the  future's  portal 

With  the  past's  blood-rusted  key.' 

When  the  Bell  of  Destiny  summons  to 
the  hereafter  and  the  gray  night  of  Time 
fades  into  the  crimson  of  Eternity's  morn, 
it  will  be  found  that  most  of  our  ills  have 
been  imaginary;  that  the  calamity  howler 
has  been  the  worst  foe  of  progress;  the 
demagogue  the  most  troublesome  pest  of 
the  ages;  the  pessimist  the  most  dangerous 
microbe  that  ever  afflicted  humanity. 

Ever  since  Pharaoh  instructed  the  mid- 
wives  of  Egypt  to  strangle  the  male  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  "Lest  the  Hebrews  crowd  us 
out  of  the  land  and  we  be  homeless/'  the 
exhaustion  of  the  public  lands  has  been  a 
favorite  cry  of  the  political  shepherds  of 
every  nation.  And  yet,  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  bread-stuffs,  the  world  today 
is  larger  and  richer  than  ever  before. 

Not  to  draw  too  fine  a  point,  let  it  be 
roughly  stated  that  from  the  Dakotas 
northward  for  a  thousand  miles  stretch  the 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      103 

virgin  soils  of  Canada  and  British  Colum- 
bia, rich  in  all  the  elements  of  wheat-grow- 
ing and  favorable  to  highest  civilization. 
While  the  great  Plains  of  Argentine  Re- 
public, South  America,  could  grow  food- 
stuffs for  all  of  Europe  for  centuries  to 
come. 

As  far  back  as  '97,  Siberia's  frozen 
steeps  produced  three  hundred  thousand 
tons  of  potatoes,  with  possible  capacity  of 
millions,  while  her  mines  yielded  in  thirty 
years,  half  a  billion  of  gold,  and  yet  we 
think  of  her,  and  have  been  taught  to 
think  of  her  as  a  barren  waste  of  snow  and 
ice. 

To  the  above  let  there  be  added  the  mil- 
lions of  acres  being  reclaimed  by  irrigation 
in  America,  Africa  and  India.  Above  all 
these  place  the  fact  of  intense  farming. 
With  improved  methods,  five  acres  now 
produces  more  of  the  eatables  of  life  than 
fifty  acres  did  a  few  years  ago. 

In  fact,  one  enterprising  American  ad- 
vertises to  show  a  comfortable  living  for 
a  family  from  twenty  hens  and  the  rear  end 
fragment  of  a  city  lot. 

That  man  ought  to  be  hailed  with  the 


104      TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

ECLAT  of  a  Columbus,  receive  a  gold 
medal  for  meritorious  services  to  his  coun- 
try,— be  brevetted  a  Brigadier  General  in 
the  realm  of  Finance,  and  have  his  name 
inscribed  in  the  HALL  of  FAME  by  a 
grateful  people. 

If  a  blessing  is  pronounced  upon  a  man 
who  causes  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow 
where  only  one  grew  before,  how  much 
more  honor  ought  this  genius  to  have  who 
piles  up  heaps  of  dollars  where  nothing 
was  visible  before,  and  also  adds  to  the 
gayety  of  nations  and  the  entertainment  of 
his  neighbors  by  the  songs  of  thoroughbred 
hens? 

"The  world's  supply  of  fuel  is  about 
burned  out,  and  as  for  timber  to  build 
cities,  there  soon  will  not  be  enough  left  to 
grow  sprouts  sufficient  to  whip  bad  girls 
with." 

So  shouts  the  demagogue  and  would-be 
statesman;  and  yet  there  are  billions  of 
feet  of  untouched  forests  in  Oregon  alone, 
while  more  millions  of  tons  of  coal  are 
today  within  easy  reach  of  railroads'  trans- 
portation than  was  ever  before  known. 
The  golden  fringe  of  day  dawning  upon 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      105 

the  Dark  Continent  brings  to  view  the 
emerald  foliage  of  more  timber  than  has 
been  cut  since  Columbus  discovered  Amer- 
ica. Add  to  this  all  the  underground 
oceans  of  crude  petroleum  whose  mighty 
fountains  are  being  touched  by  diamond 
drills  all  round  the  world,  and  the  new 
processes  for  reinforced  concrete  and 
structural  steel  that  engineers  are  daily 
offering  to  growing  cities  and  begin  to 
understand  that  this  old  world  has  not  yet 
attained  her  prime.  That  the  "  barrel  of 
meal  has  not  wasted,  the  cruse  of  oil  has 
not  failed. ' ' 

With  vision  cleared  and  hope  renewed, 
let  us  swing  the  TELESCOPE  of  PROG- 
RESS away  from  the  slow  ascending 
plains  of  material  resources  to  the  cloud- 
less peaks  and  unmeasured  heights  of  that 
limitless  realm  of  man's  energy,  progress 
and  possibilities. 

The  waste  of  all  peoples  in  all  lands  in 
all  centuries  past  in  all  other  lines  cannot 
equal,  by  any  standard  of  measurement, 
the  waste  of  war  alone,  namely — MIL- 
LIONS OF  HUMAN  LIVES— and  still  we 
cry  out  for  increased  armies  and  enlarged 


106      TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

navies.    If  we  really  mean  business,  let  us 
be  consistent. 

Administer  the  ordinances  of  PEACE 
to  the  affairs  of  nations  and  enforce  them 
upon  the  conscience  of  mankind  by  the 
persuasions  and  visions  of  prosperity  and 
real  progress,  and  the  conservation  of  the 
world's  natural  resources  will  assume  a 
form  and  vigor  that  will  enlarge  the  orbit 
of  a  world  and  cause  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness to  sit  up  and  take  notice. 

HUMAN  LIFE  IS  THE  GREATEST 
NATURAL  RESOURCE  OF  THE  UNI- 
VERSE. 

But  what  has  all  this  to  do  with  airship 
squadrons  hovering  about  the  poles,  sail- 
ing thru  luminous  pathways  of  comets, 
whose  orbits  and  habits  of  flight  are  as 
yet  undetermined — or  a  summer  outing 
trip  to  Mars? 

Simply  this:  Young  people  need  to  get 
a  vision  of  largeness.  Need  to  get  out  of 
the  whirlpools  and  eddies  of  the  current  of 
time, — away  from  the  merry-go-round  of 
scientific  limitations,  —  into  the  broad, 
swift-flowing  channels  of  WISDOM  that 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      107 

break  from  the  FOUNTAINS  of  INTEL- 
LIGENCE and  CREATIVE  POWER  that 
direct  winds  and  tides,  sunshine  and 
storms,  and  hold  a  universe  in  their  grasp. 
Need  to  understand  that  next  to  GOD, 
Man  is  the  largest  and  most  wonderful 
being  ever  created.  Need  to  know  that  as 
all  fruits  and  fowls  and  animals  and  grasses 
and  grain  have  been  improved  only  by  be- 
ing operated  upon  by  a  higher  intelligence, 
even  so  Man  himself  can  be  improved  only 
as  directed  and  inspired  by  a  higher  intel- 
ligence. 

Need  to  get  out  of  the  guide  lines  of  Lati- 
tude that  have  always  limited  man's  prog- 
ress around  the  world  to  commercial  lines 
and  slow-changing  seasons.  Need  to  sail 
GOD'S  Longitudinal  world,  where  seasons 
change  in  an  hour,  and  fauna,  flora  and 
climate,  mark  STANDARD  TIME  with  the 
pendulum  of  epochs. 

Need  to  know  that  * '  There  is  a  spirit  in 
man  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty 
giveth  him  understanding." 

Need  to  know  that  this  old  world  is  and 
always  has  been  the  object  of  creative 
watch-care  and  love. 


108     TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

Need  to  know  that  "The  eternal  God  is 
our  refuge  and  underneath  are  the  Ever- 
lasting Arms." 

If  this  much  has  been  learned  from  our 
trip  around  the  world  endways,  we  shall 
have  made  the  greatest  discovery  possible 
to  mankind  and  our  reward  is  infinitely 
great. 

Dear  young  people: — My  song  is  ended; 
my  story  done. 

When  your  voyaging  is  over,  your  sailing  past, 
may  you  rest  on  the  shores  of  everlast- 
ing life — 

Where  living  waters  forever  flow, 
Where  trees  of  beauty  and  healing  grow. 

—VALE. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      109 

THE  AFTERGLOW. 

The  light  falls  softly  over  the  hills, 

As  in  autumn  days  of  the  Long- Ago. 
The  thrush's  song  by  the  woodland  rills — 
And  the  plaintive  voice  of  the  whippoorwills — 
With  memories  sweet  my  being  thrills — 
And  the  tender  light  of  the  Afterglow 
Brings  rest  and  peace;  rest  and  peace. 

Forgetting  age  and  its  weight  of  pain, 

A  boy  again  I  roam  the  fields; 
The  cow-bell's  jingle  I  hear  again — 
Barefooted  splash  thru  mud  and  rain — 
Breathe  fragrance-sweet  of  new-cut  grain. 

Earth,  sea  and  sky  new  beauty  yields 

From  worry  and  care,   sweet  release;   sweet 
release. 

Sometime,  somewhere  in  the  Afterglow 

I  shall  pass  the  heights  of  time  and  place ; 
Where  living  waters  forever  flow — 
Where  trees  of  beauty  and  healing  grow — 
In  the  spirit-world  I  shall  surely  know 

The  welcome  smile  of  my  Father's  face; 
Be  led  in  paths  of  peace;  perfect  PEACE. 


110     TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

Part  III 

TWENTIETH  CENTURY  POEMS 

THE  DESERT. 

There  is  a  wondrous  fascination  in  her  wide- 
flung  desolation, 

And    a    splendid    nerve    and    courage    that 
solitudes  inspire. 

There  is  a  fierce  determination  born  of  Hope's 
glad  inspiration, 

With   the   light   and   life   and   gladness   of 
Ambition's  holy  fire. 

She  has  days  for  languorous  pleasure  under 
skies  of  wondrous  azure, 

She  has  crimson  dawns,  and  sunsets  that  with 
richest  saffron  glow. 

She  has  every  scenic  treasure,  beyond  mortal 
pen  to  measure, 

When  the  sun  has  flamed  her  grizzled  buttes 
agleaming  white  with  snow. 

When  the  purple  twilight  changes  into  night 
across  her  ranges, 

And  a  soft  and  subtle  radiance  floods  the 
earth  and  low  arched  sky, 

Stands  she  then  in  wondrous  glory,  matchless 
theme  for  song  or  story, 

Clothed  in  tranquil  nameless  splendor,  most 
entrancing  to  the  eye. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      1 1 1 

Over  silent  sagey  washes  flames  the  sign  of 

gains  and  losses 
That  allured  the  empire  builders  in  the  days 

of  Forty-Nine, 
Silver-pro  wed  in  days  of  olden,  now  they're 

copper-hued  or  golden, — 
Ships  of    fortune,  treasure    laden,    proudly 
swinging  into  line. 

She  has  matchless  lights  and  shadows  over 

vast  but  grassless  meadows; 
She  has  prehistoric  cities  that  with  magic 

mirage  grow; 
Also   crystal  lakes   and  fountains   nestled  in 

among  the  mountains, 

While  adown  her  sun-baked  washes  streams 
of  mighty  volume  flow. 

Till  the  soul  is  lost  in  wonder,  fadeless  scenes 

of  phantom  splendor 
She  will  surely  bring  you  from  the  realms 

of  legends  bold; 
Facts  and  fancies  she  will  render  of  romances 

strong  but  tender, 

That    alone    in    voiceless    language    of   the 
desert  can  be  told. 

Land  of  legend  and  tradition,  hopes  renewed 

and  high  ambition, 
Land  where  men  of  largest  genius  for  their 

souls  true  freedom  found, 
Land  of  vague,  mysterious  longing,  truth  to 

other  world  belonging, 
Land  where  health  and  deepest  wisdom  doth 
forever  more  abound. 


112      TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

A  DESERT  RAIN. 

The  rain  was  falling  very  fast, 
The  wind  blew  fiercely  down  the  wash; 

It  pulled  my  tent  stakes  up  at  last 
And  blew  me  out  of  bed,  b'gosh. 

It  swelled  my  apples  nice  and  plump, 
To  batter  turned  a  sack  of  flour; 

I  tell  you,  sirs,  it  made  me  hump 
To  keep  real  sweet  in  that  dark  hour. 

I  couldn't  sleep  a  single  wink 

For  holding  on  to  bed  clothes  tight, 

And  if  I  wandered  round  I'd  sink 
To  knees  in  mud,  on  that  fierce  night. 

There  is  no  loss  'thout  some  small  gain: 
The  storm  that  pushed  my  castle  o'er 

Swept  every  rat  past  earthly  pain, 
Not  one  was  left  beneath  that  floor. 

So  now  I  live  serene  and  blest, 
No  rats  to  gnaw  my  sour-dough  bread, 

Nor  scamper    'cross    my  peaceful  breast 
When  I  am  snugly  tucked  in  bed. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      113 

THE  OLD  PROSPECTOR. 

There's  a  man  with  pick  and  shovel 

Camped  beside  a  granite  spring; 
Every  day  he's  panning  gravel, 

Every  day  I  hear  him  sing: 
"Struck  it  rich  in  Colorado, 

Guess  I'll  find  some  pay  dirt  here — 
Then  go  home  to  wife  and  babies, 

Bring  them  joy  and  hope  and  cheer. 

"Staked  a  claim  in  Boise  basin, 

Quicked  a  thousand  many  a  day; 
Heard  of  better  things  in  Klondike, 

Sold  my  claim  and  walked  away; 
Lost  my  all  on  Chilkoot  passes, 

Snowslide  caught  me,  went  dead  broke; 
Since  then  life  holds  naught  but  ashes, 

All  my  finds  go  up  in  smoke.' 

Thus  I  heard  this  hero  singing 

As  I  paused  upon  my  way, 
And  I  feel  his  tribe  is  bringing 

Wealth  of  empire  day  by  day; 
Founding  states  in  quiet  fashion, 

Building  railroads  o'er  the  plain, 
Quiet,  patient,  hopeful  genius, 

Deserves  to  strike  it  rich  again. 

Kindly  heart,  tho'  hands  are  caloused, 
Streaks  of  gray  his  temples  crown; 

Tho'  he's  broke  (or  mighty  near  it,) 
Don't  you  think  he  will  lay  down. 


114      TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

Ever  cheerful,  hopeful,  buoyant, 
Still  the  time  for  him  must  come, 

When  from  out  life's  purple  canyons 
He  must  hit  the  trail  for  home; 

Pack  the  burro,  throw  the  diamond, 

Leave  the  sluice  box  far  behind; 
Cache  the  shovel,  horn  and  rocker, 

Bare  his  breast  before  the  wind; 
Hark,  the  call  from  o'er  the  mountains, 

Speed  thee  toward  the  setting  sun; 
Never  fear,  he'll  reach  life's  fountains, 

For  his  work  has  been  well  done. 

Now  he  looks  with  hunger-longing, 

To  a  land  not  far  away; 
To  a  home  of  peace  and  plenty, 

In  the  realms  of  endless  day; 
To  that  land  beyond  the  river, 

Where  prospectors  can't  grow  old, 
Where  the  hills  are  rich  in  silver 

And  the  streets  are  paved  with  gold. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      115 

HOW  THE  ALMIGHTY  PAINTS. 

Morning. 

Storm-dark  cloud  'gainst  heaven's  blue, 

Lightning-flash  by  thunder's  roar  attended — 
Plains,  meadows,  woodland  flushed  with  dew, 

Rainbow    tints    with    bursts    of    sunshine 

blended. 
Night's  curtain  folded;  Stars  at  rest, 

Orchestral  airs  of  winds  and  waves  in  chorus, 
Flames  streaks  athwart  the  blushing  east — 

Morning,  glorious  morning  streaming  o'er  us. 

Noon. 

Wealth  of  sunshine  falling  o'er  the  world, 

Illumines  mountain,  plain  and  cool  retreat; 
Like  quivering  lances  penciled  rays  are  hurled, 

In  color-surges   o'er   fields   of   wind   swept 

wheat ; 
In  cataracts  it  rolls,  o'er  fleecy  films  of  clouds, 

Till  vast  creation  thrills  with  life  and  power, 
And  all  the  earth  in  matchless  witching  mood, 

Proclaims  life's  zenith  in  the  noontide  hour. 

Night. 

Low-arched  to  earth  the  heavens  bend, 

The  wind-harps  thrummed  and  soothed  to 

rest, — 
The  shades  of  night  with  days  rich  colors  blend, 

The  sun  has  marked  a  trail  of  glory  in  the 

west; 
God's  hand  hath  set  the  evening  star, 

So  low  it  soon  must  pass  from  sight, 
Beyond  the  purple  hills;  and  ocean's  bar, 

Shall  darkened  be:  'tis  calm  and  holy  night. 


116     TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

MOTHER'S  ROOM. 

Twas  very  small,  a  baby's  nest, 

(Ten  feet  or  less  by  seven) 
Yet   large   enough  to   hold   earth's   best, 

And  all  I  think  of  heaven; 
Where  Mother  sewed  and  Mother  cried, 

And  all  our  tears  of  sorrow  dried, 
With  tender  loving  kisses. 

From  out  this  room  at  morn  we  went, 
All  girded  for  life's  work  or  play, 

And  here  we  always  were  content, 
To  rest  awhile  at  close  of  day; 

Its  peace  and  calm  our  foosteps  lured, 
And  all  our  aches  and  pains  were  cured, 

By  Mother's  pats  and  kisses. 

Oh,  blessed  spot  to  memory  dear, 
Oh,  land  of  childhood's  matchless  dreams; 

Thy  memory  still  my  heart  doth  cheer, 
Still  thru  my  soul  thy  glory  streams; 

Where  quickly  cured  was  every  grief, 
And  mother's  presence  brought  relief, 

With  low  sung  lullabies  and  kisses. 

Oh,  Mother  dear,  my  heart  doth  yearn, 
To  know  thy  voice  and  love  again, 

And  oft  thru  memory  still  I  turn, 

To  thy  dear  arms  for  ease  from  pain — 

To  have  thine  arms  around  me  thrown — 
And  call  me  once  again  thine  own, 

And  bless  my  face  with  kisses. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      1 1  7 

God  grant  again  that  Mother's  room, 

May  be  my  habitation; 
When  far  beyond  all  clouds  and  gloom, 

Long  past  earth's  strong  vexation, 
Oh,  lead  me  then  to  Mother's  room, 

Beyond  the  clouds,  beyond  the  tomb, 
My  Mother's  room  in  Heaven. 


I  KNOW  NOT. 

I  know  not  when  the  chord  shall  break 
That  binds  thee  to  this  world  of  Time; 
I  know  not  when  thy  soul  shall  take 
Its  flight  for  some  serener  clime; 
I  know  not  when  that  other  land 
Shall  need  the  light  thy  presence  gives, 
I  know  not  when  some  angel  band 
Shall  bear  thee  where  thy  Saviour  lives; 
But  this  I  know,  so  sweet  a  life 
Must  some  day  pass  to  heavenly  plains, 
Must  leave  behind  all  pain  and  strife 
To  live  where  God  forever  reigns. 

Must  reach  that  fount  from  whence  it  draws 
The  Light  and  Love  that  brightly  shines, 
Through  highest  truth  and  holy  laws 
That  keeps  and  saves  by  power  divine. 
Must  breathe  the  air  that  angels  know, 
Must  live  beside  that  splendid  river 
Where  trees  of  Life  in  beauty  grow 
And  live  with  God  for  aye  and  ever. 


118     TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

I'M  LONGING  FOR  YOU. 

We  have  splendid  mornings  bright  and  fair,- 
With  cloudless  skies  and  tonic  air, — 

And  scenic  beauty  everywhere, — 
But  oh,  I'm  longing  for  you. 

At  sultry  noon  a  dreamy  spell, 

Whose  languorous  ease  no  words  can  tell, 
Comes  o'er  my  soul,  (I  love  it  well), 

But  still  I'm  longing  for  you. 

There  are  twilight  hours  of  wondrous  calm,— 
That  fall  o'er  mind  and  heart  like  balm, — 

Or  rhythm  and  flow  of  sacred  psalm, 
But  still  I'm  longing  for  you. 

There  is  work  to  do  and  plans  to  lay, — 
There  is  cark  and  busy  care  all  day, — 

But  still  my  thought  will  flee  away, — 
Dear  heart,  I'm  longing  for  you. 

Foul  or  fair,  by  land  or  sea, — 
Best  or  worst,  whate'er  it  be, — 

Counts  for  naugnt  away  from  thee, — 
Evermore,  I'm  longing  for  you. 

Your  love  makes  bright  each  darkened  way,- 
Your  presence  gladdens  every  day, — 

I'm  lonesome  when  from  you  I  stay, — 
Sweet  wife,  I'm  longing  for  you. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      119 

THE  CHILDREN'S  BURDEN. 

Talk  not  to  me  of  "men  with  hoes/ 

Nor  of  burdens  on  the  white  man  lain; 
I  come  to  speak  of  children's  woes, 

To  tell  of  nerve  and  mental  strain, 
Of  boys  and  girls  in  public  school, 

Reduced  to  nervous  wreck  by  rule, 
For  seven  thousand  this  way  went, 

Whom  to  the  schools  were  last  year  sent. 

At  three  to  kindergarten  sent,  and  when 

The  tale  of  bricks  is  done,  and  papers 
Nicely  folded,  or  perchance  in  mats 

Of  various  fashion  formed, 
The  race  is  on. 

To  gain  the  prize  no  effort  must  be  spared, 
Nor  yet  the  paling  cheek  and  muscles 

Flaccid  grown,  considered  be ;  for  these, 
You  know,  to  culture  and  refinement, 

The  outward  symbols  are; 
While  hollow  eyes  and  headache  speak 

Of  mental  poise;  and  discipline  of 
Mind  exalted  high  is  more  desired 

Than  health  and  other  common  things. 

1 '  Keep  off  the  grass, ' '  nor  yet, 
By  quiet  waters  'neath  shade-trees  run, 

Tomorrow  is :  examination  must  be  borne 
In  seven  branches  (written  work) 

And  less  than  ninety  is  disgrace. 

So  hot  and  fevered  is  the  brain,  that 
Slumber  tardy  comes,  and  troubled  with 

Mutterings ;  broken  is  rest,  and  the  heart, 
Robbed  of  its  growing  time,  no  longer 

Blood  supplies  for  lunches  cold; 

Indigestion  lays  its  murderous  hand 

On  nerve  and  brain ;  the  end  is  nigh. 


120     TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

'Tis  time  to  speak  of  (mysterious  Providence), 
With  choking  voice,  but  the  truth  is, 

A  false  standard  of  education  has 
Upon  ambition's  altar 

Another  victim  placed. 

And  truly  the  sacrifice  is  whole — 

Intellect  alone  remains:  the  spirit-soul 
Has  never  cultivated  been ; 

The  moral  powers  are  undermined, 
Because  to  accident  is  left  their  development. 

No  text  book  in  all  their  realm; 
Ambition's  holy  fires  are  kindled, 

Not,  save  to  light  the  way  for  brains; 
Farther  on  in  college  halls  (that  realm  of  myth) 

Is  found  the  torch  of  reason, 
By  whose  flickering  light,  Faith, 

Is  entombed  in  the  grave-yard 
Of  dead  languages. 

Spectre  hosts  of  heathen  gods 
As  sponsors  stand,  when  doubt  is  born ; 

Wrapt  in  science  clothes, 
(Those  swaddling  bands  of  hell) 

Into  the  business  world  they  go, 
Cold  and  keen  as  the  surgeon's  knife; 

Their  motto:  "Every  man  a  rogue 
Till  honest  proved."  Everything  is  questioned, 

Money  alone  is  the  measure  of  success. 

On  with  the  dance  of  death;  be  still 
About  these  dangers,  speak  not  the  truth, 

Lest  you  be  pessimist  in  heart  and  will, 
Old  fogy,  out-of-date,  uncouth. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      121 

DO  IT  NOW! 

'Tis  well  to  sing  of  a  home  on  high, 
(But  the  world  needs  workers  now). 

Of  a  palace  home  far  beyond  the  sky, 
Of  great  things  we  '11  do  by  and  by, 

But  the  world  wants  work  done  now. 

In  conventions  we  oftimes  enthuse, 
(The  world  needs  work  right  now) 

Resolve  all  our  powers  we'll  use, 
But  many  times  neglect  or  refuse, 

To  do  our  best — just  now. 

Come,  lend  a  hand  to  the  poor  and  weak, 
The  world  needs  this  work  now; 

The  broken  hearts  some  kind  words  speak, 
And  keep  your  own  life  sweet  and  meek, 

Do  your  best,  do  it  now! 

Go  help  that  soul  out  of  sin  and  pain, 

This  help  is  needed  now ; 
Till  it  stands  straight  for  truth  again, 

In  cold  or  heat,  or  snow,  or  rain, 
Do  the  best  you  can;  work  now. 

This  day  is  the  best  day  for  you, 

The  world  is  calling  now, 
For  God  and  man  be  strong  and  true, 

Be  helpers  many  or  be  they  few, 
Do  your  best,  Oh,  do  it  now ! 


122      TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

A  WOMAN'S  HEART. 

Go  scour  the  earth  and  sweep  the  land; 
Go  search  the  angels'  quiet  home, 
Go  visit  all  the  shining  stars 
That  gleam  in  Heaven's  sapphire  dome. 
Go  bring  the  wealth  of  ages  past, 
Earth's  jewels  rare, — all  works  of  Art,— 
Bring  all  the  songs  of  seraph  choir, 
Then  go  and  win  a  woman's  heart. 
Go  place  them  in  a  balance  fine, 
All  treasures  gleaned  from  everywhere, 
The  wealth  of  stars  and  seas  and  land, 
All  works  of  art  and  jewels  rare; 
Against  them  weigh  a  woman's  heart, 
A  heart  of  love  to  hold  in  thrall; 
You  will  find  a  Christian  woman 's  Love 
Will  surely  far  outweigh  them  all. 


LOVE'S  WIRELESS. 

It  flashes  from  her  sparkling  eyes, 
I  caught  it  from  her  finger-tips; 
It  came  (as  lightning  from  the  skies) 
When  first  I  kissed  her  rosy  lips. 

Love  thrilled  her  song  with  tender  strain ; 
Love  glinted  from  her  waving  hair; 
By  day — by  night,  Love's  sweet  refrain 
Now  breaks  in  music  everywhere. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      123 

SPRING  FEVER. 

I  long  for  hills  and  leafy  woods 
Where  streams  come  tumbling  down; 
I  long  to  leave  far,  far  behind 
The  pavements  hot  and  brown. 

I  long  to  rest  where  nature  sheds 
Dewdrops  and  fragrance  sweet; 
To  substitute  the  winding  trail 
For  trolley-crowded  street. 

I  long  to  hunt  and  fish  and  dream 
Where  feathered  songsters  call; — 
Where  eagles  rush  and  bob-cats  scream 
Near  thunderous  waterfall. 

I  long  to  leave  all  work  behind; 
To  take  slow  quiet  ease 
From  all  restraint  of  any  kind 
And  do  just  as  I  please. 


124     TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

MY  WISH  FOR  THEE. 

I  would  that  today  through  woodland  ways 
By  the  pools  of  a  sparkling  river 
Where  autumn  leaves  a  carpet  weaves, 
That  with  shadows  and  sunlight  quiver, 
You  might  slowly  walk  and  quietly  talk 
With  the  soul  of  your  own  soul's  choosing, 
Or  rest  on  the  leas  'neath  the  stately  trees, 
While  soul  held  soul  in  a  double  musing. 

I  would  that  for  thee  'midst  wild-flowers  and 
trees, 

Forgotten  all  heartaches  and  sorrow 

The  prophet  of  ways  for  thy  life's  autumn 
days 

Naught  could  picture  but  a  sweeter  tomorrow. 

Till  a  beauty  and  glow  like  the  autumn  days 
throw 

Over  woodlands  and  swift  flowing  river 
Reflected  should  be  in  soul  chosen  by  thee, 
And  your  soul  should  be  mated  forever. 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      125 

OUR  BOYS. 

Oh!    Bless  the  boys!    The  baby  boys, 

In  long  white  skirts  and  dresses; 
With  rosy  cheeks  and  dimpled  hands — 

With  curls  and  golden  tresses. 
And  bless  the  boys  some  later  on 

In  kilts  and  knickerbockers; 
They  rode  the  dining  chairs  for  steeds, 

Made  railroad  trains  of  rockers. 

Then  bless  the  boys  with  bat  and  ball, 

With  marbles,  tops;  with  bows  and  arrows; 
When  sick  with  croup — with  colic  wild 

We  trod  with  them  life's  narrows; 
And  bless  the  boys  when  school  days  came, 

When  first  from  home  they  started; 
Both  glad  and  sad  we  watched  them  go. 

Our  Babies  had  departed. 

Ah,  no!    They  are  our  Babies  still, 

Though  near  to  manhood  grown; 
Each  day  they  draw  around  our  hearts 

New  ties  before  unknown. 
Each  day  we  love  them  more  and  more; 

They  bring  our  deepest  joys; 
God  keep  them  safe  for  earth  and  Heaven, 

Our  own  sweet  darling  boys. 


126     TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

WHERE  DWELLEST  THOU? 

In  lowlands  damp,  with  poisoned  air, 

In  canyons  dark  with  mid-day  gloom, — 
Where  prejudice  and  ignorance  are, 

And  blatant  self  fills  all  the  room; 
On  sunlit  mesas  bright  and  fair, 

On  mountain  heights  with  glory  kist; 
Mid  wonder  scenes  and  tonic  air, 

With  rainbow-lights  and  halo-mist. 
Ye  men  and  maidens  answer  now 

This  question  fair,  Where  dwellest  Thou? 

In  palace  high  or  hovel  low, — 

In  brown-stone  front  or  cabin  rude? 
It  is  not  this  that  I  would  know, 

But  o'er  what  truth  thy  heart  doth  brood. 
Does  high  born  zeal  and  lofty  plan 

Engage  your  mind  and  thrill  your  heart, — 
Does  cheer  and  help  for  every  man 

Appeal  to  you  as  noblest  art? 
To  this,  your  aim  and  purpose  vow, 

A  matchless  realm,  where  dwellest  Thou. 

Up,  onward  now  to  highest  things ; 

Drink  deep  the  joy  achievement  brings; 
To  all  that's  best  now  lend  thy  aid, — 

For  progress  stand.     Be  not  afraid; 
Unconquered  mind  and  daring  soul 

(If  purpose  true  once  gain  control), 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      127 

To  seas  unsailed,  to  lands  unknown, 
Thou  shalt  attain  and  claim  thine  own. 

All  lands,  all  realms  before  thee  bow 
To  homage  pay.    Where  dwellest  Thou. 

Thy  path  illumed  by  sacred  fire 

Leads  straight  to  land  of  Heart's  Desire; 
Where  charm  and  glory  rule  the  days 

And  every  hour  is  glad  with  praise. 
Fill  full  thy  life  with  noblest  deeds; 

Thy  Soul's  best,  give  for  human  needs; 
Uplift,  sustain,  the  rights  of  man, — 

Build  only  Love  on  Wisdom's  plan. 
Let  all  the  world  bring  tribute  now. 

A  great  soul  dwells  where  dwellest  Thou. 


128     TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP 

THE  HOMEWARD  TRAIL. 

The  homeward  trail  is  calling, 

To  the  kiss  and  the  sunny  smile, 
Where  peace  and  calm  are  falling, 

And  living  is  worth  the  while; 
There's  help  in  time  of  trouble, 

There's  love  that's  deep  and  strong, 
A  face  that  more  than  doubles 

My  joys  the  whole  day  long. 

There's  a  something  (can't  define  it) 

That  races  my  being  thru, 
(If  I  would  I  couldn't  decline  it), 

That  comes  along  with  you; 
That  lifts  me  out  of  the  present, 

That  brings  content  and  rest, 
That  makes  my  way  all  pleasant, 

And  every  day  most  blest. 

There's  something  about  you,  darling, 

That's  more  than  a  " woman's  way;1 
Rich  as  the  song  of  a  starling, 

On  wing  at  the  break  of  day, 
That  inspires  to  noble  endeavour, 

The  pure,  the  good,  the  true, 
Thru  days  and  years — forever, 

I'm  looking  upward  to  you. 

Sometimes  I  catch  the  vision, 
Then  it's  off  and  away  again, 

And  my  soul  is  left  at  tension, 
That  is  close  akin  to  pain; 


TO  THE  POLES  BY  AIRSHIP      129 

Then  the  lilt  and  rapturous  glory, 

Of  your  sunny  hazel  eyes, 
As  a  sweet  and  happy  story, 

Lifts  me  up  to  the  skies. 

So  the  homeward  trail  keeps  calling, 

My  pulse  beats  wild  and  high, 
To  my  soul  is  this  absence  galling, 

As  the  days  drag  slowly  by; 
So  over  the  hills  and  mountains, 

To  the  ocean's  shoreless  blue, 
To  the  soul-inspiring  fountains 

Of  a  love  that  is  strong  and  true. 

Forever  this  call  is  coming, 

To  the  home  in  the  unseen  land, 
And  ever  my  heart  turns  homing, 

Led  by  your  loving  hand; 
I  long  for  the  peace  and  quiet, 

Your  presence  brings  to  me, 
Your  rocker  with  mine  close  by  it, 

To  rest,  sweet  rest,  with  thee. 


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